Premier declares town ‘fully ‘liberated’

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister on Thursday declared the town of Tal Afar “fully liberated” from the Islamic State after a nearly two-week operation, the latest blow to the extremist group that controlled nearly a third of the country just three years ago.

Iraqi troops “eliminated and smashed Daesh terrorists” in al-Ayadia district, about 6 miles northwest of Tal Afar where the militants fled last week, Haider alAbadi said in a statement. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

“To Daesh criminals we say: Wherever you are we will come to liberate and you have to choose only death or surrender,” he said.

With Tal Afar liberated, all of Nineveh province — the first area Islamic State militants captured in a 2014 blitz — “is in the hands of our brave troops,” al-Abadi said.

Thursday’s announcement came a day after Jordan and Iraq reopened their only border crossing after a two-year closure since the militants took over most of Anbar province. Both sides celebrated the reopening as another victory over the militant group.

U.S.-backed Iraqis troops launched the operation to retake Tal Afar early last week, a month after it declared the northern city of Mosul, its second largest, to be fully liberated. Tal Afar is about 93 miles from Syria’s border and it was among the last Islamic State-held towns in Iraq.

Iraqi officials often declare areas liberated before the fighting has completely ended, and the militants have been known to carry out surprise counterattacks. Islamic State still controls the northern town of Hawija as well as the towns of Qaim, Rawa and Ana in western Iraq near Syria.

Iraqi forces have driven Islamic State from most of Iraq’s major towns and cities seized by the militants in the summer of 2014.