Iraqi forces gained ground from the Islamic State group in Mosul and have deployed snipers in the Old City to target the jihadists, officers said on Tuesday. Iraqi forces launched a major operation to recapture west Mosul - the most-populated urban area still held by IS - on February 19, and have retaken a series of neighbourhoods from the jihadists.
Iraqi interior ministry forces are now battling IS in the Old City, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to reside, while the Counter-Terrorism Service is fighting to reclaim areas further west.
Iraq's Joint Operations Command announced on Tuesday that CTS forces had recaptured the Al-Risala and Shaqaq Nablus areas of west Mosul.
In the Old City, "dozens of snipers" have been deployed atop buildings to target the jihadists as Iraqi forces seek to advance toward the Al-Nuri mosque.
The mosque is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only known public appearance, calling on Muslims to "obey" him.