Iraqi forces gearing up to retake Mosul from Isis

Iraqi forces are gearing up to regain control of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Islamic State's [Isis] current stronghold.

Baghdad lawmakers have agreed to set up three new army bases to train and equip forces for the Mosul operation.

Following talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Sajida Muhammad Younis, a lawmaker from Mosul, said: "We asked the prime minister to let us participate in the liberation of Mosul by telling us of the plans."

She said more than 8,000 people comprising locals and former soldiers have volunteered for the operation, and they will be trained in the new bases.

The latest development is taking place alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga forces' advance against the IS extremists, following the retrieval of Mount Sinjar and the release of minority Yazidis.

The friction between Kurdistan and Iraqi authorities remains a bottleneck in the anti-IS combat as it is still uncertain whether and how the two will coordinate.

"The liberation of Mosul has to be done either by the Iraqi army or the Peshmerga otherwise it will not succeed. The Iraqi army alone is not up to this task and we will not agree to the role of Shiite volunteer forces," Salim Juma, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw daily.

"Abadi has repeated often that he will intensify his efforts for Mosul but it is all talk and there is no action. We want this to be a formal decree and agreed on by the ministry of defence and the Peshmerga ministry."

In a related development, Iraqi forces have confirmed the IS-appointed governor of Mosul Hassan Saeed al-Jabouri has been killed in an airstrike conducted by the US-led coalition forces.

Al-Jabouri is the second governor to be killed by the US-led forces and he was believed to have been appointed as governor less than a month ago.