Iraqi army claims fall of Tal Afar

Iraqi forces say they have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, ISIL’s stronghold in the country’s northwest, the Iraqi military said in a statement on Sunday.

The city is the last major urban centre remaining under ISIL control in Iraq.

Fighting is ongoing in one small area just outside the city. Iraqi forces are only waiting to retake the city’s surrounding areas to declare a complete victory.

Following the recapture in July of Mosul, the road lay open to Tal Afar, and it became the US and Iraqi army’s main objective in their bid to smash ISIL’s self-proclaimed caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria, which it seized in 2014.