Iraqi forces try to bring civilians out of east Mosul, U.S. pledges more support

A Federal police member fires his weapon during a battle against Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq March 21, 2017. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces attempted to evacuate civilians from Mosul's Islamic State-held Old City on Tuesday so that troops could clear the area, but militant snipers hampered the effort, Iraqi officers said.

    They said the insurgents were also using civilians as human shields as government units edged towards the al-Nuri Mosque, the focus of recent fighting in the five-month-long campaign to crush Islamic State in the city that was once the de facto capital of their self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate.