US-led coalition strike destroys Mosul bridge

Mosul : The US-led coalition bombed a key bridge in Mosul Tuesday to isolate jihadists whose stiff resistance in the east of the city is threatening to bog down Iraqi forces.

The number of civilians displaced since last month's start of the offensive against Mosul -- the Islamic State group's last stronghold in Iraq -- rose to 68,000, but most of the city's population remained trapped.

A coalition aircraft carried out an air strike on Mosul's "third bridge", leaving a British-era bridgein the centre as the last crossing of the Tigris River running through the city.

Coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said IS fighters has been using the bridges to re-supply the eastern side of the city, "essentially rotating their forces".

"We're not going to let that happen," he told AFP.

A member of the provincial council for Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital, said the central bridge was the last remaining after four others over the Tigris had been destroyed.

IS has put up fierce resistance to defend Mosul, the city where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a "caliphate" in June 2014.

The eastern bank of the Tigris was expected to offer less resistance when tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched the offensive on October 17 to retake the city.