Baghdad forces push ISIS out of Mosul University

Iraqi Shiite forces battled ISIS terrorists inside the Mosul University campus on Sunday (January 15) in a third day of fierce clashes in the complex and also discovered chemicals used to try to make weapons, officers said.

"Counter terrorism Service" (CTS) troops had gathered in the university canteen. As they unfa hrefed a map of the area, a suspected ISIS drone flew overhead and they shot at it.

CTS Commander, Lieutenant General Abdelwahab Saadi said the southern part of the complex had been cleared.

"The operation is still ongoing, we have now liberated the southern part of the university complex. There are still clashes, in the coming hours the university will be liberated completely," he said.

The Iraqi Shiite forces also found chemical substances IS had used to try to make weapons, another CTS commander Sami al-Aridhi said.

The United Nations says ISIS terrorists seized nuclear materials used for scientific research from the university when they overran Mosul and vast areas of northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014.

Recapturing the university would be a crucial strategic gain and allow Baghdad forces to advance quicker towards the Tigris river, from where they will be able to launch attacks on the city’s west, still all under ISIS control, Baghdad military officers say.