Iraq retakes central Tal Afar, historic citadel in IS stronghold

MOST OF TAL AFAR’S 200,000 RESIDENTS, MAJORITY OF THEM SHIA TURKMENS WHOSE BELIEFS ARE ANATHEMA TO SUNNI HARDLINERS OF IS, FLED UPON THE ARRIVAL OF JIHADISTS

BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces have driven the Islamic State from central Tal Afar and its historic citadel, they said on Saturday, placing them on the verge of fully recapturing one of the last IS strongholds in the country.

The advance, just days into an assault on the strategic town, comes six weeks after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the jihadists in second city Mosul, where the jihadist group declared its “caliphate” in 2014.

“Units of the counter-terrorism Service liberated the Citadel and Basatin districts and raised the Iraqi flag on top of the citadel,” operation commander General Abdulamir Yarallah said in a statement.

The CTS and federal police units had also seized three northern districts and the Al-Rabia neighbourhood west of the citadel, a day after taking the district of Al-Talia to the south.

Clashes were ongoing on the northern outskirts and Iraqi forces were dealing with final pockets of jihadists inside the city, Yarallah said.

Government troops and units of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition, backed by a US-led coalition against IS, launched the assault on Sunday after weeks of coalition and Iraqi air strikes. Tal Afar sits on a strategic route between IS-controlled territories in Syria and Mosul, 70km further east.

Progress there has been far more rapid than in Mosul, Iraq’s second city, which fell to Iraqi forces in July after a gruelling nine-month battle.

Officials have said they hope to announce victory in Tal Afar by Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday set to start in Iraq on September 2. Most of Tal Afar’s 200,000 residents, the majority of them Shia Turkmens whose beliefs are anathema to Sunni hardliners of IS, fled as jihadists arrived.

Pro-government forces faced an obstacle course of roads blocked with earth embankments and strategically-parked trucks, as well as sniper fire and mortar shelling.

Troops also said they discovered a network of underground tunnels used by the jihadists to launch attacks behind lines of already conquered territory, or to escape. International Organisation for Migration said “thousands of civilians” had fled Tal Afar since the offensive began.

Those who flee through desert areas face soaring temperatures, putting them at risk of dehydration, said Viren Falcao of the Danish Refugee Council.