Iraq declares victory over ISIS in Tal Afar

Baghdad, Aug. 31: Iraq declared on Thursday that its forces had retaken the northern city of Tal Afar and the surrounding region in another major victory over Islamic State group jihadists.

ISIS, which seized nearly a third of Iraq in 2014 in a stunning defeat for the army, now controls just 10 percent of the country, according to the US-led international coalition against the jihadists.

The fall of Tal Afar, located in the northern province of Nineveh, deprives IS of what was once a key supply hub between its territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

After a 12-day battle by Iraqi forces backed by coalition air strikes and paramilitary fighters, Prime Minister Haider alAbadi announced that Tal Afar had “regained its place in the national territory”.

He vowed to liberate “every inch of Iraqi territory” from the group.

“We say to the criminals of ISIS: wherever you are, we’re coming to liberate it and you have no choice but to die or surrender,” Abadi said. The full recapture of Nineveh province comes weeks after coalition-backed Iraqi forces ousted the jihadists from the provincial capital Mosul, three years after the jihadists declared a self-styled “caliphate” straddling Iraq and war-torn Syria.

ISIS has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries and thousands of its fighters have been killed since late 2014, when the coalition

The fall of Tal Afar, located in the northern province of Nineveh, deprives ISIS of what was once a key supply hub between its territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria

ISIS controls just 10% of the country. It has lost much of the territory it controlled in the two countries since late 2014

Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi announced that Tal Afar had regained its place in the national territory

was set up to defeat the group. But the jihadist group, which is also known as ISIS, continues to claim attacks in the Middle East and Europe.

In a statement, the coalition against IS congratulated Abadi and the Iraqi security forces (ISF) “on their stunning victory in Tal Afar” and Nineveh province.

But it cautioned that “dangerous work remains to completely remove explosive devices, identify ISIS fighters in hiding and eliminate any remaining ISIS holdouts so they do not threaten the security of Tal Afar in the future.” Brigadier General Andrew A. Croft, deputy commander of the coalition, said Iraqi forces had killed between 600 and 700 IS fighters during the battle.