Mosul (Iraq), Oct 2 (IANS/EFE): Warning of an impending attack, Iraqi military aircraft Thursday dropped thousands of leaflets on the northern city of Mosul urging residents to avoid strongholds and barracks of the Islamic State (IS) jihadi group, local officials said.

Mohammed Ibrahim al-Bayati, head of the Nineveh provincial security committee, told Spanish news agency Efe that the leaflets urged civilians to evacuate their homes that are located near the jihadi positions which will be targeted by the warplanes.

In the leaflets, the residents of the city were asked to collaborate with the Iraqi security services and report the "secret strongholds" of the jihadis.

Al-Bayati predicted that the airstrikes would break the back of the radical organisation and help Iraqi troops enter Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

The operation would be coordinated with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and the international coalition led by the US.

Thousands of Mosul residents have fled the brutality of the IS and the months-long siege imposed by the Iraqi authorities after the jihadis seized control of the city in June.