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The al-Hurriya
bridge is the second to be secured by the Iraqi forces in the
city, after securing one located further south, in the offensive
that started on the western part of Mosul on Feb. 19.
"We control the western end of the bridge," said a senior media
officer with Rapid Response, the elite unit of the interior
ministry leading the charge through the districts alongside the
Tigris river.
All of Mosul's five bridges over the Tigris have been destroyed
but their capture and repair would help the offensive against
the militants, who have controlled the northern Iraqi city since
2014.
Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after
100 days of fighting and launched their attack on the districts
that lie west of the Tigris on Feb. 19.
Defeating Islamic State in Mosul would crush the Iraqi wing of
the caliphate declared by the group's leader, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, in 2014, over parts of Iraq and Syria.
Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate from Mosul's grand Nuri mosque
in the old city center which is still under his followers'
control.
The Iraqi forces are advancing toward the old city center form
the south and the southwest.
(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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