QAYARA AIR BASE, Iraq -- Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed or gravely wounded more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters since October in the battle for Mosul, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters that there are still an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 Islamic State fighters defending Mosul. He applauded the efforts of Iraqi security forces, who began their offensive Oct. 17 in what has been billed as a decisive phase of the fight against the Islamic State.
"By our calculations, we think we have killed or badly wounded over 2,000," Townsend said at a joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter at Qayara air base.
Iraqi security forces have been slowed in their offensive against the Islamic State, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years. U.S. officials have declined to say how many Iraqi government troops have been killed in the Mosul fight.
Iraqi forces have only won back a handful of eastern Mosul neighborhoods since launching the offensive in mid-October. On Sunday, they came under mortar fire as they worked to clear villages along the Tigris River to the south, part of operations to secure supply lines for a campaign that is likely to stretch into the coming year.
Townsend disputed any suggestion that the Islamic State has managed to fight the Iraqi government forces to a standstill in Mosul.
After citing the estimated 2,000 Islamic State casualties, he added: "I don't think that suggests anything about a stalemate. This is a major urban area. Any army on the planet, including the United States Army, would be challenged by this fight.
"The Iraqi army has come back from near-defeat two years ago, and now they are attacking this major city," Townsend said. "I don't think there is anything in there about a stalemate."
Townsend said U.S. intelligence estimated before the start of the Mosul campaign that the Islamic State had 3,500 to 6,000 fighters in the city. He said the current estimate is 3,000 to 5,000.
Carter made an unannounced visit Sunday to the Qayara base, flying in from Baghdad after meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and sharing lunch with American troops. It was Carter's first visit to Qayara since it began operating as an Iraqi staging base in October.
Carter toured the air base, greeting soldiers and offering holiday wishes. He assured them that the Mosul campaign is on track.
"Everything is going according to the plan of a year ago," Carter said.
On Saturday in Bahrain, Carter announced that the U.S. will send another 200 troops to Syria to train and advise local forces fighting the Islamic State. There are already 300 U.S. troops authorized for the Syria effort, and about 5,000 in Iraq.
Carter said at an international security conference that the battles for Mosul and for the Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of the extremists' self-described caliphate, would be crucial for defeating the group, which has claimed terrorist attacks worldwide.
"The seizure of these two cities is necessary to ... put ISIL on an irreversible path to a lasting defeat," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
As his days in office wind down, Carter is making the case for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq even after the Islamic State is dislodged from Mosul.
"Beyond security, there will still be towns to rebuild, services to re-establish and communities to restore," he said. The extremists, he predicted, will attempt to survive by reinventing themselves "in some other shape or form" after they lose their grip on Iraq and Syria.
In Baghdad, about 250 miles from Mosul, six bombings targeting mostly streets and markets frequented by civilians killed 12 people and wounded more than 30 Sunday, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials.
Information for this article was contributed by Manu Brabo and Maamoun Youssef of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/12/2016