Iraq liberates town held by Islamic State

SINAN SALAHEDDIN

BAGHDAD — The northern town of Tal Afar, Iraq, has been “fully liberated” from Islamic State, Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday, further shrinking the territory controlled by the extremists who overran nearly a third of the country three years ago.

The militants have suffered a series of major defeats in recent months, including the loss of Mosul, the second-largest city, in July.

Iraqi troops “eliminated and smashed” the militant group in al-Ayadia district, northwest of Tal Afar, where they had fled last week, Prime Minister Haider alAbadi said in a statement.

“To Daesh criminals we say: Wherever you are we will come to liberate and you have to choose only death or surrender,” al-Abadi added, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

With the fall of Tal Afar, all of Ninevah province is “in the hands of our brave troops,” he said. The ethnically mixed province was the first to fall to Islamic State in the summer of 2014.

The group still controls a large area of eastern Syria, along the border with Iraq, as well as parts of Raqqa, the capital of the group’s self-styled caliphate, where it is battling U.S.-backed and Kurdishled Syrian forces.

Iraqi officials often declare areas liberated before the fighting has completely ended, and the militants have been known to carry out surprise counterattacks. The Tal Afar operation began nearly two weeks ago.

The announcement on Tal Afar came a day after Jordan and Iraq reopened their only border crossing after a two-year closure. They were able to reopen it after Iraqi forces drove Islamic State from most of the vast Anbar province in western Iraq.

Al-Abadi vowed to retake all areas still under Islamic State control. In Iraq, they are now largely confined to the northern town of Hawija and a handful of others — Qaim, Rawa and Ana — near the Syrian border.

In a separate statement, the Iraqi military confirmed that their next target is Hawija, but did not elaborate.

Iraqi state TV interrupted its regular programs and played national songs, showing a live feed from Tal Afar, where soldiers danced and celebrated the victory.

BENGHAZI, Libya — An Islamic State militant drove his explosivesladen car into a checkpoint east of the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on Thursday, killing two policemen, military officials said.

The officials said the blast at Nofaliya, 130 km east of Sirte, also wounded two soldiers from the self-styled Libyan National Army, LNA. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated online.

The attack and the resulting death toll were reported by Col. Muftah Amgharief, from the security force guarding oil facilities in eastern Libya, and Faisal Ahbale, spokesman for the army’s 101st Brigade. The incident and the death toll were also reported by the LNA spokesman on his Facebook page.

Thursday’s attack came just over a week after Islamic State militants beheaded 11 people in an attack on a checkpoint in the central district of al-Jufra, some 300 km south of Sirte, which Islamic State held until Libyan forces expelled the militants late last year.

Bands of Islamic State militants are now believed to be roaming the vast deserts around the city, preying on travellers and attacking isolated outposts or convoys belonging to the army or rival militias.

Libya has been rife with chaos since a 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Rival militias, many led by Muslim extremists, hold sway over large swathes of territory, while three rival administrations struggle to exercise authority. The deserts of central and southern Libya have been largely lawless since 2011, with an array of armed groups holding sway and controlling overland crossings into neighbouring countries.