Iraqi forces are "ahead of schedule", the Pentagon says, as they begin the second day of the battle to retake Mosul from ISIL fighters.
"Early indications are that Iraqi forces have met their objectives so far, and that they are ahead of schedule for this first day," the Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
The head of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Masoud Barzani, in turn, said that 200 kilometers were cleansed in the first phase of the battle to liberate Mosul. The Peshmerga have also taken a “significant stretch of the Erbil-Mosul road".
