The Iraqi Army has sent reinforcements to eastern Mosul after IS fighters launched a ferocious counterattack last week, pushing back government forces and further slowing a nearly two-month-old offensive to retake the city.
Major-General Najim al-Jabouri told AP on Saturday that federal police and Iraqi Army units had moved from the southern front to Mosul's east where most of the fighting is concentrated.
The move comes just days after the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group ambushed the army in the Al Salam Hospital in eastern Mosul, killing several soldiers and forcing them to pull back.
Lieutenant-General Qassem al-Maliki, the commander of the 9th Division, said he lost 13 men in the fighting around the hospital.
According to Aljazeera, IS and some other security sources suffered higher tolls.
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