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Iraqi forces have captured Mosul airport hours after launching a major offensive against Islamic State militants, who control the western half of the city, according to state television reports.
"The Rapid Response Forces and federal police are fully in control of the airport of Mosul," state television said in a flash on its screen.
Counter-terrorism service (CTS) troops and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response descended on the airport and the nearby Ghozlani military complex early on Thursday, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told state TV.
"Our forces started a major operation early this morning to storm the airport of Mosul and the Ghozlani base to dislodge Daesh [Islamic State] terrorists," Mr Numan said.
Special forces officers said that fierce clashes had broken out at the Ghozlani base perimeter.
Meanwhile, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency also reported Turkey-backed Syrian rebels had seized control of almost all of Syria's al-Bab from Islamic State fighters.
The Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish tanks, warplanes and special forces, entered the centre of al-Bab, a town they have been besieging for weeks, Turkey's Defence Minister Fikri Isik told Anadolu.
After ousting the militant group from eastern Mosul last month, Iraqi forces have sought to capture the airport and use it as a launch pad for an onslaught into the west of Iraq's second-largest city.
The airport and military complex, which includes barracks and training grounds and sprawls across an area close to the Baghdad-Mosul highway was captured by Islamic State fighters when they overran Mosul in June 2014.
Loss of Mosul could spell the end of the Iraqi side of IS's self-styled caliphate, which it declared from the city after sweeping through vast areas of Iraq and Syria.
The campaign involves a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish fighters and Shi'ite militias.
Forces have made rapid advances since the start of the year, aided by new tactics and improved coordination, military officials said.
However, the battle for western Mosul was expected to be most daunting yet.
The streets are older and narrower in that section of the city, stretching west from the Tigris River that divides Mosul into the eastern and western half.
The dense urban environment will likely force Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armoured vehicles.
There are up to 750,000 civilians trapped in the area, and United Nations agencies have urged warring parties to make their protection a top priority.
Reuters
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, iraq
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