BAGHDAD (AP) - The Latest on the Iraqi government forces' battle to take the western half of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

Iraqi police officials say the country's militarized federal police forces have entered Mosul International Airport, taking over the runway amid fierce clashes with the Islamic State group. The two-pronged advance is part of a major assault that started earlier this week to drive IS from the western half of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city

Iraqi federal police units, backed by regular army forces, entered the airport Thursday morning, according to two police officials who said heavy clashes were underway hours later with IS militants hunkered down inside several airport buildings. Two police official told The Associated Press that after police forces pushed onto the airport grounds and seized the runway, they came under heavy fire from inside the buildings at the site, including the main airport building. They would not provide more details but said troops from the U.S.-led coalition are with the advancing forces, though they didn't specify the nationalities of the foreign forces. The push by Iraqi forces into Mosul's western Mamun neighborhood was followed by intense clashes with IS militants, according to an Iraqi special forces officer on the ground, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Smoke billows as Iraqi forces attack Mosul airport during an offensive to retake the western side of the city from Daesh extremists on Thursday (AFP photo)

MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq — Iraqi forces on Thursday thrust into Mosul airport on the southern edge of the extremist stronghold for the first time since the Daesh terror group overran the region in 2014. Both the sprawling Ghazlani military base and the airport will be key to the next steps in the daunting battle and will serve as a base of operations as Iraqi forces launch subsequent pushes into western Mosul, which is divided by the Tigris River into two halves. On Sunday, after weeks of preparations, Iraqi forces officially launched the operation to take Mosul’s western half, with the Iraqi regular army and federal police forces taking part in the initial push. Gen. Yahya Rasool, said Iraqi forces had also retaken a sprawling military base adjacent to the airport. Iraq's air force struck ISIS targets inside Syria for the first time overnight as Iraqi troops on the ground pushed into western Mosul, the last major urban stronghold held by the Sunni militant group in Iraq. Iraqi authorities declared the city's eastern half "fully liberated" from the Sunni militants in January, three months after launching the operation to take back Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. The battle for western Mosul is expected to be the most difficult yet because the sector is denser, with older neighbourhoods and narrower streets that will likely complicate the already difficult urban combat ahead. The initial numbers of displaced from western Mosul have been low, but Iraqi forces are yet to punch into the city's dense urban neighborhoods. There are an estimated 750,000 civilians trapped on the city’s west bank, which is a bit smaller than the east side but more densely populated.
Iraqi Police forces enter the Mosul International Airport and capture the runway from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.