An Iraqi army offensive touted as the first phase of a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State has paused until more forces arrive to hold ground.
Almost three weeks into the operation, Iraqi forces have retaken just three villages from IS in the Makhmour area, which is set to be a key staging ground for a future assault on Mosul, around 60 km further north.
The faltering start has cast renewed doubt on the capabilities of the Iraqi army, which partially collapsed when IS militants took around a third of the country in 2014.
Major General Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri, who is in charge of the offensive, said on Wednesday that Iraqi forces were now waiting for the arrival of federal police units and additional local tribal fighters to hold territory after it is retaken.
That would free up his forces to go on the offensive against the insurgents, Jubbouri said in a statement, dismissing what he described as efforts to disparage the army.
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In the statement, Jubbouri said the militants had dug a network of tunnels beneath Nasr and prepared suicide bombers and a fleet of vehicles rigged with explosives, some of which contain weaponised chlorine, a chemical weapon IS has used before in northern Iraq.
US Army Major Jon-Paul Depreo, operations officer for the international coalition fighting IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, said at the weekend the insurgents were determined not to lose Nasr because of its strategic position on high ground.
Depreo also said difficult terrain meant it was not possible to deploy a large number of forces there against the militants, who are more familiar with the area.
The coalition, led by the United States, has trained thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers in preparation for the operation to retake Mosul, the largest city in IS's self-proclaimed caliphate.
