MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces drove back Islamic State militants in the Mosul University campus on Saturday, while elite police units took over large areas along the east bank of the Tigris river, military officials said.

The head of Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) said security forces were close to seizing the entire east bank of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul north to south. That gain will bring at least half of Islamic State’s last major stronghold in Iraq back under government control.

Iraqi forces have made rapid advances since the new year, as part of a nearly three-month, U.S.-backed offensive.

For the ultra-hardline Islamic State, losing Mosul would probably spell the end of the Iraqi side of its self-styled caliphate, which it declared in 2014.

The military will be able to begin attacks on western Mosul, which Islamic State still fully controls, once it has captured the eastern bank of the river. The militants have fought back fiercely with car bombs and snipers, and have used civilians as cover.

An air raid during the week targeting a senior IS militant killed up to 30 people, residents said late on Friday.

Islamic State has also carried out attacks in Baghdad where a string of explosions in the last two weeks has killed dozens of people.

Another blast hit central Baghdad late on Saturday, killing at least one person, police sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Earlier on Saturday, CTS forces battled IS fighters at the university in Mosul, in a second day of clashes there.

“We entered the university and cleared the technical institute, dentistry and antiquities departments,” Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi of the CTS told a Reuters reporter in the complex.

“In the coming hours it will be liberated completely,” he said.

CTS troops had gathered in the university canteen. As they unfurled a map of the area, a suspected Islamic State drone flew overhead and they shot at it.

The Iraqi forces also found chemical substances IS had used to try to make weapons, CTS commander Sami al-Aridhi said.

The United Nations says the militants seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from the university when they overran Mosul and vast areas of northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014.

IS has used chemical agents including mustard gas in a number of attacks in Iraq and Syria, U.S. officials, rights groups and residents say.

POLICE RETAKE SOUTHEAST RIVERBANK

Seizing the university would be a crucial strategic gain and allow Iraqi forces to advance more quickly toward the Tigris in the city’s northeast, military officials have said.

Parallel advances in the southeast of the city on Saturday, led by elite rapid response units, put Iraq’s federal police in control of large areas along the river bank, a spokesman said.

A member of Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) carries a rocket launcher at the University of Mosul during a battle with Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq, January 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

“The Yarimja area ... has been liberated, a large number of Daesh (Islamic State) elements were killed, and the rest fled to the right-hand side (western bank),” Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammedawi told Reuters.

Forces had stopped suicide car bomb attacks by firing at them during their advance, and the federal police also captured a field hospital the militants had been using, he said.

The federal police forces were backed by the Iraqi army’s 9th armored division and by U.S. coalition air support, Mohammedawi said.

A separate military statement said the federal police in the area also captured a highway linking Mosul to the city of Kirkuk to the southeast.

Improved coordination between different military branches, plus new tactics and better defenses against the car bombs has helped them gain new momentum against Islamic State in Mosul since the turn of the year, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say.

Lieutenant General Talib Shaghati told state television the entire eastern bank of the Tigris would soon be under Iraqi control.

AIR RAID KILLS CIVILIANS

Advances had slowed in late November and December as troops became bogged down in tough urban warfare after entering the city itself, and Islamic State fought from densely-populated residential areas.

An air raid targeting a senior Islamic State militant on Thursday killed up to 30 people in a western Mosul district, residents said. It was not immediately clear if the strike was carried out by Iraqi forces or the U.S.-led coalition.

Iraq Body Count (IBC), a group run by academics and peace activists that has been counting violent deaths in the country since 2003, said 21 to 25 civilians had died that day in a strike on that area.

Slideshow (9 Images)

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Iraqi forces have tried to avoid causing civilian casualties while Islamic State has deliberately shelled and shot at residents.

The United Nations said recently the number of casualties being rushed to hospitals in nearby cities had increased.</s>Iraqi special forces have taken full control of a strategic university in eastern Mosul, according to senior commanders, the latest advance in a major push to drive ISIL out of its last urban stronghold in Iraq.

The capture of the Mosul University campus, seized by ISIL fighters when they took over the city in 2014, came after two days of intense clashes.

"Security forces have fully liberated the Mosul University," Talib Shaghati, the commander of the elite terrorism-combat service, told state TV on Saturday.

"The forces seized chemicals in the laboratories of the universities and defused explosives and car bombs," he added, without providing details.

INFOGRAPHIC: Battle for Mosul - Who controls what?

Used as a base by ISIL, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group or ISIS, the university complex lies in the north of the city on the east bank of the Tigris River, which splits Mosul in two.

Earlier on Saturday, bulldozers had smashed through a wall surrounding the sprawling campus and dozens of counterterrorism service troops sprinted through carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

While they still came under heavy small arms fire, Iraqi soldiers at the university said ISIL resistance was significantly less than what they had faced during the first weeks of the Mosul operation.

"We were targeted with only four car bombs where before [ISIL] would send 20 in one day," special forces Lieutenant Zain al-Abadeen told the Associated Press news agency.

"And they aren't armoured like before. They're just using civilian cars."

Iraqi forces have now captured most districts in eastern Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

Destroyed bridges

The massive push to retake Mosul from ISIL was launched on October 17.

The initial phase of the US-backed offensive saw a variety of forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, retake significant swaths of land in little time but the going has been tough inside the city itself.

New tactics employed since the turn of the year, including night raids and better defences against suicide car bombs, have given the campaign fresh momentum, according to US and Iraqi military officials.

The destruction of all bridges over the river in air strikes has also made it difficult for ISIL fighters in east Mosul to resupply or escape to the west bank, which they still fully control.

READ MORE: Getting Iraq's war victims back on their feet

US and Iraqi military officials say ISIL has further damaged at least two of them to try to hamper an army advance.

The western side of Mosul, which is home to the old city and some of the ISIL fighters' traditional bastions, was always tipped as likely to offer the most resistance.</s>MOSUL, Iraq, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces stormed the Mosul University complex in the city's northeast on Friday and pushed forward to reach another bridge across the Tigris river, beating Islamic State further back, the military said.

The militants were fighting back at the university, which they seized when they took over the city in 2014. There were heavy clashes inside the campus, a Reuters reporter said.

Iraqi forces have recaptured most districts in eastern Mosul in nearly three months of a U.S.-backed offensive.

A senior Iraqi counter-terrorism service (CTS) officer said the university was the most important Islamic State base in the eastern half of the city.

Iraqi forces aim to take full control of the eastern bank of the Tigris river, which bisects Mosul from north to south, before they can launch attacks on the west, which Islamic State still fully holds.

Driving the ultra-hardline group out of its Mosul stronghold will probably spell the end for the Iraqi side of its self-styled caliphate that stretches across areas of Iraq and Syria.

"The operation today which took the terrorist elements by surprise was the storming of the University of Mosul," the senior CTS officer, Sami al-Aridhi, said.

He said the CTS had taken over a hill overlooking parts of the campus, including the technical college. "Forces are heading into the depths of the university," he said.

Earlier in the day, bulldozers smashed through a wall surrounding the campus and dozens of CTS troops sprinted through carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers, a Reuters reporter said.

An Iraqi officer said army units backed by air strikes had also taken control of Hadba district, north of the university, and would aid the assault on the complex.

The recapture of the university would be an important gain because it would enable further advances as it overlooks areas closer to the river, another commander said this week.

In a separate advance further south in the city, other elite CTS units reached the 2nd Bridge, also called Freedom Bridge, one of five across the Tigris, the military statement reported by state TV said.

Iraqi forces have now reached Mosul's two southernmost bridges, having battled their way to the 4th Bridge several days ago.

Assaults on the western half of Mosul are expected to begin once Iraqi forces have secured the east bank.

All the bridges have been hit by U.S. coalition air strikes in an effort to hamper Islamic State militants' movement across the city. U.S. and Iraqi military officials say Islamic State has caused further damage to at least two of them to try to hamper any Iraqi advance across the river.

Islamic State seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from Mosul University when they overran it in 2014, the United Nations says.

The U.S.-backed campaign to drive Islamic State out of Mosul, involving a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi'ite militias, began in October. (Reporting by Isabel Coles in Mosul; John Davison and Saif Hameed in Baghdad; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Janet Lawrence)</s>Iraqi commanders say their forces have secured less than a quarter of Mosul University on January 14 as they face heavy resistance from Islamic State fighters to take over the city.

Iraqi forces continued to push into the university compound from the southeast and thick clouds of black smoke rose over the university grounds on the morning of January 14. Mortar fire and gunshots could be heard from the ongoing clashes.

Iraqi troops entered the complex, located in the eastern section of Mosul, on January 13 with the goal to take over the area in Islamic State’s last stronghold in Iraq.

The current operations are part of the latest phase launched last month to retake Mosul.

IS militants have used the university grounds as a base and Iraqi officials say that they also used the chemistry laboratories to make chemical weapons.

Residents fleeing Mosul say that most of the university has been destroyed by air strikes and artillery fire.

The university was founded in the 1960s and was once one of the top educational institutions in Iraq.

Almost all of the east of Mosul has been recaptured by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces but areas west of the river Tigris, are still under IS control.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and BBC</s>MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi special forces raised the Iraqi flag above buildings within the Mosul University complex Friday as they battled Islamic State militants for control of the city, according to senior Iraqi officers and the U.S.-led coalition.

The troops entered the university grounds in the morning hours and by afternoon they had taken control of a neighborhood on the northeastern edge of the university compound and the technical institute within the campus, according to special forces Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil and Maj. Gen. Sami al-Aridi.

By evening, Iraqi forces had also taken control of the Nineveh governorate and council buildings, according to a statement from the U.S.-led coalition.

“Work still needs to be done but ISIL’s days in Mosul are quickly coming to an end,” said U.S. army Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

Al-Aridi, who was overseeing the assault Friday, said, “We broke through the terrorists’ defenses and we destroyed their lines and their units and their bases.”

The university is located in the eastern section of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city which is divided by the Tigris River into roughly an eastern and a western half.

Sgt. Saad Jabar said that over the past two years since Islamic State seized Mosul in a 2014 blitz that captured much of northern and western Iraq, the militants have had time to prepare for an assault by Iraqi forces, building tunnels and getaways across the city, including on the university grounds.

“They had reinforced their positions and had plans. They knew where to come in and where to get out,” Jabar said.

The push into Mosul University came a day after Iraqi army forces north of the city linked up with troops pushing in from the city’s eastern edge. Iraqi forces have largely surrounded Mosul, but the most significant advances on the city have come from the eastern front and in the eastern half of the city. Islamic State still controls Mosul’s west.

The university, founded in the 1960s, was one of the top educational institutions in Iraq, drawing students from all over the country and reflecting the city’s once diverse ethnic makeup. As the security situation in Mosul deteriorated following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, enrollments declined.

After the city fell to Islamic State in the summer 2014, the sprawling complex was shuttered, most of the professors fled and the university was quickly converted into a base by the militants who used its medical and engineering departments.

Residents fleeing Mosul say the university had been largely destroyed by airstrikes and artillery fire. The U.S.-led coalition said that since Dec. 29, coalition planes have dropped at least 43 munitions on the university in a series of strikes targeting laboratories Islamic State used to research chemical weapons, buildings used to build car bombs and other Islamic State command and control points.

The U.S.-led coalition supporting the Iraqi forces offensive on Mosul told The Associated Press on Friday that the Islamic State group “warped the purpose of a beloved institution of higher learning when they used the university for military purposes.”

“The entire university has been burned,” said Muhammad Dhia, a 26-year-old former university student who was fleeing Mosul on Thursday to try and complete his studies in Baghdad.

“I think it will take at least two or three years to rebuild,” he added.

Iraqi special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told the AP it was unclear if the complex was still being used as an Islamic State base. Under heavy bombardment from US-led coalition airstrikes, Islamic State has repeatedly moved bases out of government buildings and under cover of civilians. Earlier this month, Iraqi forces retook a hospital that had been converted into an Islamic State base.

Regardless, al-Saadi said retaking the university would be a major symbolic victory in the fight for Mosul.

As the Mosul operation enters its fourth month, Iraqi forces have retaken about a third of the city that has been under tight Islamic State control for more than two years. While Iraqi officials initially pledged the city would be “liberated” this year, the fight is likely last many more months.</s>Shiite fighters of the Popular Mobilisation Forces celebrate in a neighbourhood recently liberated from Daesh militants, on the eastern side of Mosul, on Sunday (AP photo)

BAGHDAD — Iraqi special forces swept through the campus of Mosul University on Sunday to clear it of any remaining Daesh terror group militants after taking full control of the area, a spokesman said.

A military statement said troops had also taken another area along the eastern bank of the Tigris River, in gains that are bringing more of Daesh’s last major stronghold in the country under Iraqi forces' control.

Counter-terrorism service (CTS) troops drove the extremists back inside the strategically located university complex and seized clusters of buildings including colleges on Saturday, a crucial advance towards recapturing all areas of Mosul east of the river.

"The university is completely liberated and forces are sweeping the complex for any hiding militants," CTS spokesman Sabah Al Numan told Reuters by phone on Sunday. "Most buildings are booby-trapped so we're being cautious."

"We're not stopping," he added, saying the CTS was working to push into areas next to the university.

Parts of the sprawling campus overlook neighbouring districts in eastern Mosul and towards the river. Taking the entire east bank of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul from north to south, will allow Iraqi forces to begin assaults on the city's west, which Daesh still holds.

On Saturday elite rapid response units of Iraq's federal police recaptured large areas in the southeast, securing a stretch along the bank.

Loss of Mosul could spell the end of the Iraqi side of Daesh’s self-styled “caliphate”, which it declared from the city after sweeping through vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi forces say they are close to recapturing the entire eastern bank. They are backed by US-led air power in an offensive launched in October to retake the city.

The campaign involves a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias.

Forces have made rapid advances since the start of the year, aided by new tactics and improved coordination, military officials say.</s>BAGHDAD: Iraqi special forces swept the campus of Mosul University on Sunday to clear it of any remaining Islamic State militants after taking full control of the area, a spokesman said.

Counter-terrorism service (CTS) troops drove the jihadists back inside the strategically located university complex and seized clusters of buildings including colleges on Saturday, an important gain towards retaking the entire eastern half of the city.

"The university is completely liberated and forces are sweeping the complex for any hiding militants," CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told Reuters by phone. "Most buildings are booby-trapped so we're being cautious."

"We're not stopping," he added, saying the CTS was working to push into areas next to the university.

Parts of the sprawling campus overlook neighbouring districts in eastern Mosul, making it a crucial gain for taking remaining IS-held areas along the Tigris river, an Iraqi commander said this week.

Iraqi forces, backed by air cover from a U.S.-led coalition, say they are close to recapturing the entire eastern bank of the river, bringing them in full control of eastern Mosul, and thus half of IS's last major Iraq stronghold.

Attacks on the west of the city, which Islamic State still fully controls, can begin once the east is secured. The Tigris bisects Mosul from north to south.</s>Iraqi forces have won a string of swift territorial gains in Mosul in the fight against the Islamic State group, including a number of buildings at the Mosul University, according to military officials.

Senior commanders say Iraqi forces have secured more than half of the university campus amid stiff resistance, but clashes were ongoing into the afternoon.

Iraqi forces entered the university from the south-east on Friday morning and by nightfall had secured a handful of buildings, Brigadier General Haider Fadhil and Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said.

"We watched all the IS fighters gather in that building, so we blew it up," said special forces Sergeant Major Haytham Ghani, pointing to one of the blackened technical college buildings where charred desks could be seen inside.

"You can still see some of their corpses."

Thick clouds of black smoke rose from the middle of the sprawling complex on Saturday morning (local time), in a second day of clashes there.

By afternoon, clashes had intensified with volleys of sniper and mortar fire targeting the advancing Iraqi forces.

Convoys of Iraqi Humvees snaked through the campus, pausing for artillery and airstrikes to clear snipers perched within classrooms, dormitories and behind the trees that line the campus streets.

"We entered the university and cleared the technical institute, dentistry and antiquities departments," CTS Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi told a Reuters reporter in the complex.

Iraqi forces have made rapid advances since the New Year, as part of a nearly three-month, US-backed offensive.

IS defences in the city's east appear to be thinning, and unlike in the surrounding neighbourhoods, Iraqi officers said they believed Mosul University and recently retaken government buildings were largely empty of civilians, allowing them to use air cover more liberally.

The military will be able to begin attacks on western Mosul, which the Islamic State group still fully controls, once it has captured the eastern bank of the river.

The head of Iraq's Counter Terrorism service (CTS) said security forces were close to seizing the entire east bank of the Tigris, which bisects Mosul north to south.

That gain will bring at least half of IS's last major stronghold in Iraq back under government control.

The militants have fought back fiercely with car bombs and snipers, and have used civilians as cover.

An air raid targeting a senior Islamic State militant on Thursday killed up to 30 people in a western Mosul district, residents said.

It was not immediately clear if the strike was carried out by Iraqi forces or the US-led coalition.

The Islamic State group has also carried out attacks in Baghdad, where a string of explosions in the last two weeks has killed dozens of people.

Iraqi soldiers at Mosul University said while they were still coming under heavy small arms fire, IS resistance was significantly less than they faced during the first weeks of the Mosul operation.

"We were targeted with only four car bombs where before [IS] would send 20 in one day," said special forces Lieutenant Zain al-Abadeen.

"And they aren't armoured like before, they're just using civilian cars."</s>MOSUL, Iraq, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces battled Islamic State militants inside the Mosul University campus on Saturday in a second day of fierce clashes in the complex and also discovered chemicals used to try to make weapons, officers said.

"There are still clashes. We entered the university and cleared the technical institute, dentistry and antiquities departments," Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) told a Reuters reporter in the complex.

"In the coming hours it will be liberated completely," he said.

CTS troops had gathered in the university canteen. As they unfurled a map of the area, a suspected Islamic State drone flew overhead and they shot at it.

The Iraqi forces also found chemical substances IS had used to try to make weapons, CTS commander Sami al-Aridhi said.

The United Nations says the militants seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from the university when they overran Mosul and vast areas of northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014.

Islamic State have used chemical agents including mustard gas in a number of attacks in Iraq and Syria, U.S. officials, rights groups and residents have said.

Recapturing the university would be a crucial strategic gain and allow Iraqi forces to advance quicker towards the Tigris river, from where they will be able to launch attacks on the city's west, still all under IS control, military officers say. (Reporting by Isabel Coles, writing by John Davison, Editing by Angus MacSwan)</s>MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi forces have won a string of swift territorial gains in Mosul in the fight against the Islamic State group after months of slow progress, with a senior officer on Saturday laying claim to a cluster of buildings inside Mosul University and another edge of a bridge.

Iraqi forces now control the eastern sides of three of the city’s five bridges that span the Tigris River connecting Mosul’s east to west. Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed the city’s bridges late last year in an effort to isolate Islamic State fighters in the city’s east by disrupting resupply routes.

At Mosul University, senior commanders said Iraqi forces had secured more than half of the campus Saturday amid stiff resistance, but clashes were ongoing into the afternoon. Iraqi forces entered the university from the southeast Friday morning and by nightfall had secured a handful of buildings, Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil and Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said on a tour of the university Saturday.

“We watched all the IS fighters gather in that building, so we blew it up,” said special forces Sgt. Maj. Haytham Ghani pointing to one of the blackened technical college buildings where charred desks could be seen inside. “You can still see some of their corpses.”

Thick clouds of black smoke rose from the middle of the sprawling complex Saturday morning. By afternoon, clashes had intensified with volleys of sniper and mortar fire targeting the advancing Iraqi forces. Convoys of Iraqi Humvees snaked through the campus, pausing for artillery and airstrikes to clear snipers perched within classrooms, dormitories and behind the trees that line the campus streets.

Islamic State fighters overran Mosul in the summer of 2014, announcing from there their self-styled “caliphate” after taking a large swath of Iraq and Syria in a lightning surge. Access to the city’s central bank, a large taxable civilian population and nearby oilfields quickly made Islamic State the world’s wealthiest terrorist group.

Yet even as a punishing campaign of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes has pushed the militants underground, Islamic State leaders continued to use Mosul as a key logistical hub for planning meetings. If recaptured by the Iraqi forces, Islamic State territory in Iraq that once stretched across a third of the country would be reduced to small pockets in the north and west that troops will likely be able to mop up relatively quickly.

The massive operation to retake Mosul from Islamic State was launched in October. Since then Iraqi forces have slowly clawed back more than a third of the city. Islamic State maintains has tight control of the city’s western half where Iraqi forces will likely encounter another wave of heavy Islamic State resistance. The west of the city is home to some of Mosul’s densest neighborhoods and an estimated 700,000 civilians.

As Iraqi forces have closed in on the Tigris that roughly divides Mosul into eastern and western halves, their pace has quickened. Islamic State defenses in the city’s east appear to be thinning and unlike in the surrounding neighborhoods, Iraqi officers said they believe Mosul University and recently retaken government buildings are largely empty of civilians – allowing them to use air cover more liberally.

Iraqi soldiers at Mosul University said while they were still coming under heavy small arms fire, Islamic State resistance was significantly less than they faced during the first weeks of the Mosul operation.

“We were targeted with only four car bombs where before (Islamic State) would send 20 in one day,” special forces Lt. Zain al-Abadeen said. “And they aren’t armored like before, they’re just using civilian cars.”

Medics operating a small field hospital in eastern Mosul said civilian casualties have dropped significantly over the past three days as Iraqi forces moved into government complexes like the university rather than dense civilian neighborhoods.
Iraqi forces capture parts of Mosul University and several areas along the Tigris River from Islamic State militants.