IS downs Iraqi helicopter west of Mosul

Iraq's joint operations command says an Iraqi air force helicopter has been downed west of Mosul after coming under fire from the Islamic State group.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the command's spokesman, says the helicopter was hit today afternoon while supporting Iraq's mostly Shiite militia forces in an operation to retake villages still held by the militants in the sprawling desert to Mosul's west.
Rasool says the pilot landed safely and there were no fatalities.
The government-sanctioned Shiite militia forces known as the Popular Mobilization Units launched an operation to retake a small village just south of Sinjar on Friday.

Inside Mosul Iraqi forces are slowly closing in on a small cluster of neighborhoods in the city's west held by the extremist group.