Iraq’s prime minister has announced “victory” over Islamic State in the city of Mosul.
A statement from the office of Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday: “The commander in chief of the armed forces Haider al-Abadi arrived in the liberated city of Mosul and congratulated the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people for the great victory.”
Celebrations broke out among police forces in the city on Saturday as Isis fighters were driven from the city in the final stretch of the nearly nine-month offensive.
The announcement came despite reports that heavy fighting continued in the last Isis strongholds in the city.
The defeat would be the biggest yet for Isis in the three years since it seized Mosul in a lightning offensive, swept across much of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland and proclaimed a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria
More to follow…
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
