Iraqi government forces have liberated all but 16 of the districts in Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group, Sputnik cited Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari as saying.

"Most of Mosul and its surroundings in Nineveh province have been liberated. This is 40 out of 56 districts. Work is beginning to liberate the remaining 16 districts," Jaafari said.

The Iraqi diplomat attributed a slowdown in the campaign to the terrorists' use of civilians as human shields, as well as "vast stocks of modern weapons."

"The doctrine of the Iraqi army is to try to avoid civilian casualties. The Daesh takes advantage of that," Jaafari said.

"That is why we are not in a rush, we allocate additional funds at the risk of our soldiers in order to save civilian lives. We need time to liberate the city with the least amount of losses."

The operation to retake Mosul from terrorists has been continuing since October 17. The battle for the city began with 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and 30,000 Iraqi soldiers backed by the US-led anti-terror coalition advancing on the city from the east, west and south. Mosul has been occupied by IS, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and other countries, since 2014.

The Iraqi government could involve the powerful Shiite militia known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the campaign to reclaim Mosul from the Daesh jihadists when needed, Jaafari said.