Battle for Mosul: Iraqi forces close in on government complex

Iraqi troops are within firing range of the main government complex in western Mosul in their offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their last stronghold in the city, a military officer said on Tuesday.

"The provincial council and the governorate building are within the firing range of the Rapid Response forces," the spokesman told Reuters.

The advance comes a day after forces seized the city's southernmost bridge, which when repaired could link Iraqi units on either side of the Tigris river.

Several hundred civilians fled through the desert on Tuesday to escape fighting against IS in the Mosul area, reaching an Iraqi position south of the embattled city.

At least 16,000 people have been displaced since Iraqi forces launched a push to recapture west Mosul from the Islamic State group on 19 February, according to the ministry of displacement and migration.

"There are more coming. They're stopped at a checkpoint when they arrive and separated. The men are searched and then checked against a database," Hashem said.

While the men are taken to be checked, the women and children sit on sheets on the dusty ground, and security forces bring them water, food and condensed milk.

Eighteen-year-old Baidaa, wearing a ragged black scarf and holding her young daughter, said she and her family had fled early in the morning.

"We left at five o'clock this morning. We started running and then we walked the rest of the way. We had to run because we were afraid of fire from (IS)," Baidaa said.

"They trapped us and they didn't want us to leave," she said of the IS militants.

Her two children didn't "understand what's happening, they just followed us. They were so afraid of the firing from the fighting."

Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition launched operations to retake Mosul on 17 October, recapturing the city's east and then setting their sights on its smaller but more densely populated western side.