US destroys last Mosul bridge

-Civilians flee as regime advances in rebel-held Aleppo

-Army accuses rebels of hoarding food, using civilians as human shields

The US-led coalition bombed a key bridge in Mosul yesterday 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 bridge in 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".

Refugees wait for food at the Khazir refugee camp in northern Iraq, on Monday. Photo: AFP, Reuters

"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.

Over five weeks, Iraqi forces advancing on several fronts have made considerable progress in the advance, but the fighting in Mosul itself has been tough.

The UN had initially predicted that 200,000 civilians could be forced from their homes in the first few weeks of the offensive, Iraq's biggest military operation in years.

Meanwhile in Syria, Syrian pro-government forces pushed deeper into rebel-held eastern Aleppo yesterday, forcing civilians to flee as the regime pressed an assault to recapture the entire city.

Military aircraft dropped leaflets over east Aleppo, urging rebels to distribute food to civilians, leave the area and allow residents to do so too.

The regime pounded the east of the city with air strikes and barrel bombs as ground troops advanced in the key eastern neighbourhood of Masaken Hanano, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A week into the latest round of fighting for the city, the regime controls around a third of the district, the Observatory said.

At least 143 civilians, including 19 children, have been killed in the city's east since the latest assault began on November 15, according to the Britain-based monitor. Another 16 civilians, including 10 children, have been killed in rebel fire on western Aleppo, it said.