Iraqi militarised police have captured a neighbourhood on the western side of Mosul amid fierce clashes with Islamic State militants.
Major General Haider al-Maturi of the Federal Police Commandos Division told The Associated Press that his troops entered the Tayaran neighbourhood on Sunday morning and it is now "under their full control."
Al-Maturi said IS militants deployed at least 10 suicide car bombs, but nine of them were blown up before reaching their targets. The 10th killed two policemen and wounded five.
Al-Maturi added that his forces arrested two militants - an Iraqi and a foreigner who speaks Russian.
Iraqi forces, backed by aerial support by the US-led international coalition, control eastern Mosul. Iraq's second largest city is split roughly in half by the Tigris River.
Elsewhere, up to 3000 people fled from the Mamun neighbourhood on Sunday morning, according to Iraqi special forces Brigadier General Salam Hashed, who oversees a screening centre south of Mosul.
Hashed said just over 2500 people fled the previous day.
According to the UN figures, about 750,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in their houses in western Mosul, one of several challenges expected to slow the advance of the Iraqi troops. Another complication is western Mosul's old and narrow streets, which will force Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armoured vehicles.
Mosul fell to IS in the summer of 2014, along with large swaths of northern and western Iraq.
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