Iraqi forces have liberated four new neighbourhoods in eastern Mosul over the past few days, bringing the number of areas recaptured from the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) to 23, the Ninawa Operations Command said Monday (November 28th).

"Iraqi forces have completed the liberation of al-Jamaa, al-Khadhra, al-Shiqaq and al-Muharebeen neighbourhoods," Ninawa Operations commander Nejim Edin Karim al-Jubury told Diyaruna.

"The total number of liberated neighbourhoods is now 23, representing one-quarter of Mosul neighbourhoods," he said.

"We are now engaging the terrorist enemy in al-Masaref, al-Nahdha and Cairo neighbourhoods," he said, adding that ISIL has suffered heavy losses in assets and lives.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are trying to weed out ISIL from those fleeing Mosul, AFP reported Monday.

"Everyone in Mosul knows who the terrorists are," said Lt. Ali of Iraq's special forces, part of a group of officers involved in the screening.

Some 70,000 civilians have fled the violence since Iraqi forces started the offensive to retake Mosul last month.

After more that two years of extremist rule over the city of more than a million inhabitants, the authorities are desperate to stop any extremists escaping among the throngs of displaced civilians.

To do this, they say they use a database of intelligence collected from different sources, including Western spy agencies, old records and Mosul residents who lived under ISIL.

Official figures are not made public on how many people have been detained by the various forces fighting ISIL.

Intelligence officer Ali, who did not give his second name, estimated that some 5% of the men fleeing the city have been held on suspicion of co-operating with ISIL.