DUSHANBE, 16.06.2017. /NIAT “Khovar”/. Iraqi government forces on Monday recaptured a vast open area in the west of the city of Mosul and dislodged Islamic State (IS, banned in Tajikistan) militants from five villages in the area, Xinhua reports citing the Iraqi military.

The army’s 15th Infantry Division advanced in the rugged area in the north of the IS-held town of Mahlabiyah, some 35 km west of Mosul, and recaptured the villages of al-Buweir, al-Zanazil, al-Salam and al-Mansour, along with the nearby abandoned Mansour industry compound and water facility, Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command, said in a brief statement.

The army’s liberation of the villages is part of an operation launched on Saturday west of Mosul.

The operation came as Iraqi security forces, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, were simultaneously conducting a major offensive to dislodge IS militants from their major stronghold in western Mosul.

Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014.