Two senior Iraqi army officers have been killed in clashes with the Islamic State group south of the embattled jihadist bastion of Mosul, the military command said Monday.

The brigadier general and colonel were killed Sunday in the Sharqat area, 90 kilometres (55 miles) from Mosul where Iraqi forces are pressing an offensive to retake the city from the jihadists, the Joint Operations Command said.

Iraqi forces recaptured the western part of Sharqat in September but IS still controls eastern Sharqat.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition launched a massive operation to retake Mosul, the jihadists' last major bastion in Iraq, on October 17.