MOSUL, Iraq — U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured the second of Mosul’s five bridges on Monday, giving a boost to their onslaught on the Islamic State militant group’s remaining strongholds in the western part of the city.

All of Mosul’s five bridges have been destroyed, but the capture of the remaining parts on the west bank of the Tigris facilitates the movement of forces progressing up the river, which cuts Mosul in two.

The bridge seized, Hurriya, is the second after one located farther south. Its capture shields the back of the forces advancing toward a nearby complex of government buildings.

The forces control the western end of the bridge, said a media officer with the elite Interior Ministry rapid-response unit that is leading the charge toward the complex.

Rapid-response and federal police units on Monday took the court of justice and the Nineveh province police directorate buildings, neither of which were used by the Islamic State.

 “In the coming hours, our forces will raise the Iraqi flag over the governorate building,” said a brigadier general with the federal police, Shaalan Ali Saleh.

 

 

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of Reuters.