ISIS fighters launch counterattacks in west Mosul neighbourhood: Iraq's Defence Ministry

Irbil: Iraq's Ministry of Defence says Islamic State fighters have launched a string of counterattacks in a western Mosul neighbourhood that was previously declared free of IS.

The attacks come as Iraqi forces continue to move in on the last pocket of territory the militants hold in the Old City.

Army spokesman Brig Gen Mohammed al-Khodari says IS sleeper cells set fire to houses and cars on Sunday afternoon. Fighting lasted into the night in the Tanak neighborhood on Mosul's far western edge.

He says by Monday morning the situation was under control.

Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the Old City — the IS group's last stronghold in Mosul — just over a week ago, more than eight months after the fight to retake Iraq's second-largest city officially began.