Iraqi forces capture strategic al-Hurriya bridge in Mosul

Early on Monday, US-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul's al-Hurriya bridge which leads to the Islamic State-held Old City centre from the south, a military media officer has said.

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 19 February.

"We control the western end of the bridge," a senior media officer with Rapid Response said. 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 19 February.

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 centre which is still under his followers' control.

The Iraqi forces are advancing toward the old city centre form the south and the southwest.

Major General Haider al-Maturi, of the federal police commandos division, said Isis militants had dispatched at least six suicide car bombs, which were all destroyed before reaching troops. He said the militants were moving from house to house and deploying snipers.

The intensified fighting has led to the displacement of west Mosul residents, with more than 45,000 fleeing in the past week.

The International Organisation for Migration’s Mosul displacement tracking matrix showed the number of people uprooted since the start of the offensive in October exceeded 206,000 on Sunday, up from 164,000 a week earlier.