#MosulOps: Iraq army face new IS weaponry, slowing advance

An Iraqi operation to capture Mosul from the Islamic State group has stumbled as troops face new weapons and battle tactics from the militants.

Iraq's top counter-terrorism commander Abdel Ghani al-Asadi said on Tuesday that troops' advance in east Mosul has slowed, as the army seeks to avoid casualties among troops and civilians.

"The military's progress is slow because the ferocity of the IS militants and their use of new weapons and tactics," Asadi told correspondent from The New Arab .

"Our main aim before fighting IS is protecting civilians because the group is using them as human shields, which is making the military's advances move much slower.

He added that the militants are also using "sophisticated weaponry" which were once in the hands of the Iraqi and Syrian militaries.

Iraqi forces have faced waves of suicide car bombs as they advance deeper into Mosul in the face of heavy resistance from IS.

	IS released footage of attacks in Mosul on Monday [YouTube]

On Monday, IS released a new propaganda video taken in Mosul, showing drone footage of multiple devastating attacks carried out by suicide bombers in armour-plated vehicles and other assaults against Iraqi forces.

Interior ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said in a televised news conference on Tuesday that that IS troops were "fighting like madmen" in the street-to-street fighting in Mosul.

"On the eastern axis alone, IS has used more than 180 suicide car bombs," Maan said.

Maan added that Iraqi forces have recaptured more than a third of eastern Mosul four weeks into the battle.

Iraqi forces launched the massive operation to retake Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi city, on 17 October, advancing towards it from the north, east and south.

Forces on the eastern front were the first to reach Mosul, and Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service has since recaptured several areas inside the city.

On the southern front, interior ministry forces are approaching Mosul airport on the city's southern outskirts.