The Iraqi Federal Police expressed its appreciation to the effort exerted by the troops during the current battles witnessed in Mousl during the recent period, as it stressed that they managed to take Zanjili district in western Mosul, pushing closer to the Islamic State-held Old City, the service’s commander said Friday. 

Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat said his forces were controlling 90 percent of Zanjili district, and were advancing along 10 kilometers in neighboring al-Shifa. Both districts are the last two around the medieval Old City, IS’s last bastion in Mosul from where the group declared in 2014 the establishment of its rule in Iraq and Syria.

Jawdat said his forces had also evacuated tens of civilian families from both areas to safer zones under security control.

Iraqi government troops regained control over eastern Mosul in January after three months of fighting. Operations for the western side of the city launched in mid February, and Iraqi generals say a few hundreds of IS fighters remain in the Old City as a last refuge. Iraqi forces began late April to advance towards the enclave from the northwest, having besieged it from the south for weeks to no avail.

At least 200.000 civilians are believed to remain in IS captivity in the Old City, and the United Nations said recently that IS systematically shot dead fleeing civilians, killing more than 200 since May 26th, “Credible reports indicate that more than 231 civilians attempting to flee western Mosul have been killed since 26 May, including at least 204 over three days last week alone,” the U.N. human rights office said in a statement on Thursday.

In the same context, Thirteen civilians were killed, while eight others, including Islamic State militants, were wounded in violent attacks that occurred in several regions in Diyala, security officials and eyewitnesses said on Thursday. DPA news agency quoted sources as saying that IS militants stormed house of an air force agent in Qurret Tabah village, northeast of Baqubah, and shot him dead in front of his family. In a market in al-Hadi district in Abu Sayda village, northeast of Baqubah, a bomb blast left two civilians killed and two others wounded, the sources added.

Another bomb placed on the side of the road leading to Jalawla town exploded while an Iraqi army patrol was passing, killing three soldiers and injuring two others, according to the sources. Meanwhile, Iraqi army, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) carried out a military operation in al-Burda region, in the depth of Hamreen mountains, killing four militants and destroying a booby-trapped vehicle.

In related news, the sources added that unknown gunmen opened fire against three civilians at each of al-Asri, al-Tami and al-Tikiya al-Thaniya districts in central Baqubah and Muqdadiyah. Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

On the political side, he speaker of the Iraqi parliament has said that they are standing in full force against any project that seeks to turn Iraq into “small states” telling people who want to do so should seek life elsewhere.

“Iraq is one and will not be divided and anyone who seeks life outside this country should start looking for another country,” Salim al-Jabouri said in a conference in Baghdad held for Iraqi Turkmens and attended by other Iraqi politicians including Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the ruling Shiite National Alliance.

“We will be absolutely against any idea of dividing or disintegrating the country under any name of excuse by this party or that hiding behind and using the constitution to justify their ambitions and turning Iraq into small states at the mercy of regional wolves,” the Sunni politician added, not mentioning any one party.

The remarks come amid the Kurdistan Region’s plans to hold an independence referendum later this year and a project by some Sunni politicians from Mosul including Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi who recently called for a regional government in Nineveh similar to that of the Kurdistan Region.

“We aren’t against any concessions granted by the constitution,” Jabouri added. “But in the meantime we put in our calculations the best interests of our country and its unity against any project harming the country and we will defend this with all our powers.”