Iraqi troops capture 3 more neighborhoods in eastern Mosul

Scores of Iraqi male residents are rounded up by the Iraqi army in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Iraqi soldiers search scores of Iraqi male residents who were rounded up by Iraqi forces in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Scores of Iraqi male residents are rounded up by the Iraqi forces in Gogjali neighborhood, in Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. Iraqi forces urged them to come out with information of any Islamic State members among them. An Iraqi officer addressed the group, demanding to know the whereabouts of alleged IS militants who opened fire on troops a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

A senior Iraqi commander says his troops have driven Islamic State militants from three more neighborhoods in the northern city of Mosul.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil of the special forces told The Associated Press on Thursday his men have retaken the neighborhoods of Amn, Qahira and Green Apartment and were expanding their foothold in the densely populated district of Zohour.

The neighborhoods are all in the eastern sector of Mosul, east of the Tigris River, where most of the fighting has taken place since the government's campaign to liberate the city began Oct. 17.

Government troops are backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against IS positions in the city.

Mosul, captured by IS in 2014, is the last major urban center still held by the Sunni extremist group in Iraq.