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MOSUL, Iraq, June 25-- Iraqi forces battling Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday continued heavy clashes and pushed deeper toward the heart of the heavily populated old city in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. "There is only about one percent of the city of Mosul left in the hands of Daesh (IS group) militants, and the Iraqi security forces are continuing their advance from several directions into of the old city center," Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement. The army's 9th Armored Division freed the southern part of al-Shifaa neighborhood, the last battleground with IS militants outside the old city center, Rasoul said. Meanwhile, the interior ministry elite forces, known as Rapid Response, are still fighting in the northern part of al-Shifaa neighborhood, Rasoul said, adding that the Rapid Response commandos are surrounding the main hospital in al-Shifaa neighborhood where many IS militants holed up inside. The army troops who are fighting in northwestern part of the old city pushed further in al-Farouq neighborhood after days of back and forth battles and recaptured part of the adjacent al-Mashahda neighborhood, Rasoul said. The commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces made progress during the battles of the past few days in the western part of the old city center, he said. The federal police in the southern part of the old city continued their slow advance in the areas of Ra's al-Jadda, Bab al-Jadid and Bab al-Beidh, and are approaching the IS redoubt in al-Khazraj area in the heart of the old city, Rasoul added. | 
