BAGHDAD - Islamic State group fighters are trickling out of Iraq's Mosul as the jihadists suffer heavy casualties, the general overseeing American military operations in the region told AFP on Thursday.
Army General Joseph Votel, head of the US military's Central Command, said groups of half a dozen or fewer IS fighters have been seen slipping out of the city as US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces close in.
Some of them dump weapons and try to look like civilians, making it hard for coalition drones and planes to track them, Votel said, but some presumably are headed toward Raqa, the IS group's Syria stronghold.
"They don't have uniforms, so it is a little bit of a challenge. These aren't big groups, they aren't moving in military formations," the four-star general said, speaking from an undisclosed military base in Southwest Asia.
"There are some that will get away, and I think that happens in a lot of cases. Nothing is 100 percent, but in this case we are doing a pretty good job."
Between 800 and 900 jihadists have been killed in and around Mosul since the Iraqi-led operation to recapture the city began 10 days ago, he added.

Earlier US estimates had put the total population of IS fighters in Mosul itself at between 3,500 and 5,000.  (AFP)