Iraqi troops have advanced on Mosul and regrouped to clear neighbourhoods and houses occupied by Islamic State.
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It is being supported by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers.
Peshmerga forces had managed to kill 30 militants in mopping-up operations, he said, asserting that the extremist group “no longer poses any threat to the town”.
Meanwhile, the United Nations human rights office has cited new details as proof that IS is using chemical weapons, which many fear the extremist group has and is saving for if they are cornered or about to lose the city, still home to more than a million people.
The Defense Department has implored Baghdad to begin investigations into claims by human rights group Amnesty International of extrajudicial killings by members of the Iraqi Federal Police outside of Mosul.
“IS is no more than a bubble that resorts to to terrorizing civilians with savage murders but is unable to resist Iraqi forces”, Al Hashimy said.
“Units of the 9th Armoured Division and the Hashed al-Ashaeri (tribal militia) are beginning to advance to liberate the villages of Abbas Rajab and Al-Nomaniyah, toward Nimrud”, it said, later announcing that Abbas Rajab had been retaken.
“On Tuesday, ISIL (IS) reportedly shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul city after accusing them of “treason and collaboration”, it said.
Iraqi forces too had regrouped after meeting stronger than expected resistance from IS fighters on the east bank of the Tigris River which runs through Mosul after thrusting into the built-up area last week.
She also said that a mass grave in Hamman al Alil containing more than 100 bodies was one of several IS “killing grounds”, with bodies dumped in various locations.
“Without effective measures to suppress and punish serious violations, there is a real risk that we could see war crimes of this kind repeated in other Iraqi villages and towns during the Mosul offensive”, Maalouf added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said yesterday that he holds global human rights organisation Amnesty worldwide responsible for “endangering the security” of Mosul’s citizens by publishing “false information” regarding his forces conducting unlawful killings in areas around the city.
Also in the day, the troops fought fierce clashes with IS militants in the districts of Intisar, Jadidat al-Mufti and Shaymaa in the eastern side of Mosul, killing 13 militants, including a local IS leader named Khalid al-Mtaiwati, and destroying three booby trapped motorcycles, the statement said.
“Our forces have begun the attack on Arbajiyah”.
Reports say ISIL fighters have executed scores more people around the city this week and have been stockpiling material for possible use as chemical weapons.
On the same day, ISIS posted video footage “showing four children, believed to be between 10 and 14 years old, shooting to death four people for spying for the ISF and the Peshmerga”, the report said, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
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U.S. military officials estimate some 3,000 to 5,000 ISIS fighters are in Mosul.
