MOSUL (Sputnik) — According to Commander of the Federal Police Forces Lt. Gen. Raed Shaker Jawdat, following successful advancing of the military forces in Mosul's Old City quarter, the police ensured control over the territory surrounding the mosque by placing shooters on the roofs of liberated buildings.
The Al Noree mosque plays an important role for Daesh, since in 2014 Daesh leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi held a public preaching there, proclaiming a caliphate across the territories controlled by the terrorist group both in Iraq and Syria.
The northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Daesh's key Iraqi stronghold, has been controlled by the terrorists since mid-2014. The Iraqi troops backed by the US-led international coalition launched an operation to recapture Mosul in October 2016, with the eastern part of the city being liberated in January and the western remaining under the control of terrorists. In February, the Iraqi forces began the operation aimed at liberating western Mosul from Daesh.
