Iraqi security sources say volunteer fighters have managed to complete the isolation of Daesh-held Mosul by cutting off the Takfiri terrorist group’s only remaining supply line between the northern Iraqi city and Syria.
According to the officials, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi forces, reached the path connecting the towns of Tal Afar to Sinjar, west of Mosul, and linked up with other Iraqi troops there on Wednesday.
"Hashd forces have cut off the Tal Afar-Sinjar road," senior PMU commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (seen below) said.
Daesh still remains in control of the 60-kilometer road between Mosul and Tal Afar, he further pointed out, adding, "This is what we are dealing with now.”
Additionally, an unnamed Kurdish security official confirmed that the PMU forces had linked up with Kurdish troops in three villages around the Tal Afar-Sinjar road.
The advance came as Mosul was already ringed to the south, north and east by the Iraqi forces.
The Iraqi military estimates that 5,000-6,000 militants are still in Mosul. The terrorists are reportedly facing a 100,000-strong coalition of the army soldiers and allied fighters, who have been leading a major offensive to retake Mosul, the last Daesh bastion in the country, since October 17.
Mosul fell to Daesh two years ago, when the terror outfit began its campaign of death and destruction in northern and western Iraq.
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