Iraqi PM hails army

PRIME Minister Haider alAbadi congratulated Iraqi troops on Sunday in the streets of Mosul for driving Islamic State militants out of most of the city.

But airstrikes and sniper fire continued amid the revelry, and the extremists stubbornly held small patches of ground west of the Tigris River.

Over the nearly ninemonth campaign, Iraqi forces – backed by airstrikes from the US-led coalition – reduced the IS hold on Iraq’s second-largest city to less than a square kilometre of territory.

Still, Mr al-Abadi and Iraqi commanders stopped short of declaring an outright victory against the extremists, who have occupied Mosul for three years.

Losing Mosul would be a major defeat for Islamic State, which has suffered major setbacks in the past year.