Kurdish forces had taken over major intersections and armed men were patrolling major roads leading into the city, recovering items that had been stolen, according to Al-Jazeera's correspondent here.

From Mosul's mosques, appeals were going out to police officials of the deposed regime to return to their duties.

The city's defenders surrendered Friday afternoon and US special forces began to enter Mosul several hours later.

Mosul, 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Baghdad, is an Arab-majority enclave of 1.5 million inhabitants in the mostly Kurdish north and surrounded by oil fields.

It is also strategically important because of its airport and an Iraqi missile-launching base.

SPACE.WIRE