Military preparations to launch the second phase of the Mosul liberation battle have been completed, the Ninawa Operations Command said Wednesday (December 28th).

"Iraqi forces from the Counter-Terrorism Service and the army have completed all necessary preparations, including mobilisation, re-deployment, building of barriers and buffers inside 46 liberated neighbourhoods east of Mosul, and are now ready for the second phase of the attack," Ninawa operations commander Nejim Eddin Karim al-Jubury told Diyaruna.

The second phase is aimed at liberating all of Mosul from the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), he said.

"Today’s battles have focused on dealing with terrorist pockets and providing assistance to residents who are trapped inside their homes," he said, noting that "at least 60 terrorists have been killed in international coalition airstrikes and in clashes with Iraqi forces in Mosul".

On Tuesday, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi said security forces need another three months to eliminate ISIL from the country.

"The available data indicate that Iraq requires three months to eliminate ISIL," al-Abadi told a televised news conference.

Meanwhile, the number of displaced from Mosul has risen to 137,800 civilians, Minister of Migration and Displacement Jassim Mohammed said in a statement.

Most of them have been brought to displacement camps and provided with all their basic needs, he said.