MOSUL — Iraqi special forces and police fought the Daesh terror group militants to edge closer to Al Nuri Mosque in western Mosul on Wednesday, tightening their control around the landmark site in the battle to recapture Iraq’s second city.

The close-quarters fighting is focused on the Old City surrounding the mosque, where Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi proclaimed a “caliphate” nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria.

Thousands of residents have fled from Daesh-held areas inside Mosul, the militants’ biggest remaining stronghold in Iraq. But tens of thousands more are still trapped inside homes, caught in the fighting, shelling and air strikes as Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition advance in the west.

Helicopters circling west Mosul strafed Daesh positions beyond the city train station, the site of heavy back-and-forth fighting in recent days, and thick black smoke rose into the sky, Reuters reporters on the ground said.

Heavy sustained gunfire could be heard from the Old City area, where militants are hiding among residents and using the alleyways, traditional family homes and snaking narrow roads to their advantage, fleeing residents say.

“Federal police forces have imposed full control over the Qadheeb Al Ban area and Al Malab sports stadium in the western wing of Old Mosul and are besieging militants around the Al Nuri Mosque,” federal police chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat said in a statement.

Rapid Response elite interior ministry troops were advancing on the edge of the Old City, clambering over garden walls. Daesh responded with rocket fire, streaking the sky with white smoke plumes.

Iraqi troops shot down at least one suspected Daesh drone. The militants have been using small commercial models to spy and drop munitions on Iraqi military positions.

Civilians at risk

With the battle entering the densely populated areas of western Mosul, civilian casualties are becoming more of a risk. The United Nations says several hundred civilians have been killed in the last month, and residents say Daesh militants are using them as human shields.

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