Push launched to retake town near Mosul

Iraqi special forces yesterday led an operation aimed at retaking the jihadist-held town of Qayyarah, a key staging base for operations to attack Mosul, military sources said.

Qayyarah lies on the western bank of the Tigris river, about 60 kilometres south of Mosul, the Islamic State group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

With the clock ticking down on what Iraq expects to be its biggest anti-IS operation yet, the UN warned of population displacement on a scale not seen in years.

US-led coalition aircraft provided support, said Bashar, the spokesman for the operations command in Nineveh, the province in which Qayyarah and Mosul are located.