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REUTERS
MOSUL, Iraq
Iraqi forces on Tuesday pushed towards the river side of Mosul's Old City, their key target in the eight-month campaign to capture Islamic State's de-facto capital, and Iraq's prime minister predicted victory very soon.
Iraqi forces, battling up to 350 militants dug in among civilians in the Old City, said federal police had dislodged IS insurgents from the Ziwani mosque and were only a few days away from ousting militants completely from the Old City.
"The victory announcement will come in a very short time," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on his website on Monday evening.
"The operation is continuing to free the remaining parts of the Old City," Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) told a Reuters correspondent near the frontline in the heart of the Old City.
Iraqi forces had about 600 meters (2,000 ft) left to cover before reaching Mosul's Corniche road along the western bank of the Tigris, federal police commander Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat told Iraqi State TV.
"In a few days our forces will reach Corniche and bring the battle to its conclusion," said Jawdat, adding that police had forced militants out of Ziwani mosque in the Old City's southwestern corner.
