March 18 (UPI) -- The Iraqi army has taken control of two key neighborhoods in western Mosul after fierce fighting with the Islamic State on Saturday.
A military spokesman said government forces liberated the al-Kur and al-Tawafa neighborhoods in Mosul in their months-long campaign to drive out militants loyal to the Islamic State terrorist group. The neighborhoods are part of Mosul's Old City and include an important symbolic landmark. Government forces are now in control of the Grand Nori mosque, where the Islamic State's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate in 2014.