Iraqi fighter jets managed to kill 15 extremists loyal to ISIS extremist group in addition to destroying a bombing wheel possessed by the extremist group on Wednesday in Howeija. Meanwhile, Ministry of Immigration revealed that the number of displaced people increased to hit 700 thousand Iraqis.

More than 700,000 civilians have been displaced since beginning of offensives in western Mosul, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said. In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry “urged all ministries and authorities to make best efforts to return life back to normal in the western side of the city.”

“Residents of western Mosul cannot stay at camps, while most of the districts were liberated months ago,” it added. Earlier this month, the ministry estimated the number of civilians displaced from Nineveh province since 2016 at 819,000, while number of the displaced since launch of offensives in western Mosul reached 642,000 civilians.

Civilians, meanwhile, resumed fleeing the Old City districts, where confrontations have been ongoing over the past few days. Cap. Jabbar Hassan, of the Iraqi army, said “troops of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service evacuated on Tuesday evening 360 civilians from the vicinity of the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque.

He indicated difficulties with evacuation as Islamic State militants detain hundreds of civilians inside houses to use them as human shields to hamper progress of security troops. According to governmental figures, more than four million citizens were displaced due to the war against Islamic State militants in Iraq since January 2014, according to Iraqi government figures.

The Old City are the biggest challenge for Iraqi troops to complete liberation of the city due to its densely-populated yet narrow alleyways, which makes it hard to military vehicles to invade. It is home to the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque, where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled “caliphate” covering parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Iraqi troops were able to retake the eastern side of Mosul in January, one month after another major offensive was launched to retake the western side.

In the same context, Fifteen Islamic State militants were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes by the Iraqi jets that targeted IS locations in Hawija and Tal Afar, the War Media Cell said.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry’s WMC said “Iraqi fighter jets launched several airstrikes that completely destroyed a booby-trapping workshop and missiles and killed three militants specialized in developing missiles in al-Abbassi district, in Hawija.”

IS still holds three towns in western Anbar close to the borders with Syria, in addition to a few areas in Salahuddin, Diyala and Kirkuk. The Iraqi government is expected to aim at those strongholds once the Mosul battle is concluded.

Dozens of residents from Hawija and the regions in its vicinity escape to Kirkuk province on a daily basis. Despite the risky routes to the freed regions, the civilians prefer death to staying under IS control.

Meanwhile, other airstrikes in al-Mahalabiya, Tal Afar town, destroyed two booby-trapped vehicles and weapons. An IS location was destroyed, “12 militants were killed, huge amounts of weapons and explosives were destroyed.” Last week, the WMC announced liberation of five villages in Mahalabiya, a region which Iraqi forces and paramilitary troops had previously isolated from Mosul.