Story highlights Federal police commander: ISIS increasingly desperate; seem to be fleeing MosulDozens of ISIS fighters killed in artillery strikeIrbil, Iraq (CNN) The commander of Iraq's federal police has said ISIS militants in western Mosul are looking to cut and run from their defense of the group's last remaining stronghold in the country. Ra'ed Shaker Jawdat said ISIS militants were increasingly cut off from each other, and that its leaders were fleeing the remaining pockets of militant control. "The terrorist organization Da'esh are living in a state of shock (and) confusion and defeat and its fighters are fighting in isolated groups," Jawdat said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. "Our field intelligence units indicate that the terrorist organization is falling apart and its leadership are running away from Mosul." He added that his forces were combing the al-Ghazalani, al-Jawasq, and al-Tayaran neighborhoods in search of fighters, IEDs and booby traps, and that government artillery was targeting remaining "terrorist dens" in the western half of the city.

Source: CNN February 28, 2017 10:34 UTC