News / Iraq

Iraqi forces advance against Daesh terrorists in Tal Afar

Friday, 25 August 2017 1:44 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 25 August 2017 4:35 PM ]

Iraqi army soldiers and fighters with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha’abi gather during fighting with Daesh militants on the outskirts of Tal Afar, Iraq, August 24, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Iraqi forces have managed to wrest control over several neighborhoods in their operation to liberate the northern city of Tal Afar from the grip of Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

In a statement released on Friday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that the government forces had broken through Daesh's lines inside Tal Afar and reached the old city center as well as the district around the city’s Ottoman-era citadel.

Iraqi elite units had also retaken the Tal Afar neighborhoods of Nida' and Taliaa, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Arabic-language al-Forat news agency reported that the Iraqi troops had even recaptured the Daesh media center during the Tal Afar battle.

Additionally on Friday, the Iraqi forces uncovered two mass graves containing the bodies of 500 people, who were executed by Daesh. The victims were believed to have been held at Badush prison, situated near the city of Mosul.

On Thursday, the Iraqi military said it had retaken five more villages on the eastern and southern outskirts of Tal Afar.

Smoke billows in the background as the Iraqi forces, backed by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, advance inside al-Nour neighborhood, in eastern Tal Afar, Iraq, August 23, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Iraq’s Federal Police Chief Lieutenant General Shaker Jawdat wished that the Iraqi forces would score a victory in the battlefield.

"Victory, glory and well-being to our heroic forces of the Federal Police, the Hashd al-Sha’abi, and the supporting airforce. Thank god for the safety of your fighters, and thank god for victory, thank god for our accurate firing. Shame and death to your enemies, god willing," he said.

Colonel Ali Jaberi, Iraqi army field commander, said that the Iraqi soldiers had seized Daesh weapons and vowed that they would destroy the tunnels dug by the terrorist group.

"We have captured some explosives in the tunnels used by Daesh, the 120-type missiles as well as mines," Jaberi said.

Tal Afar is one of the last remaining Daesh strongholds in Iraq. The United Nations estimates that some 30,000 people remain trapped inside the city.

Daesh unleashed a campaign of death and destruction in Iraq in 2014, seizing Mosul and declaring it as its so-called “capital” in the Middle Eastern country.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters have been leading a major operation to rid the country of the Takfiri elements. The Iraqi forces fully liberated Mosul last month.

On August 20, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the commencement of a major offensive to retake the city of Tal Afar, near Mosul.

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