Iraqi Forces Retaking Territories North of Tal Afar

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iraqi Federal Police forces have launched an offensive to liberate al-Ayadhiya district north of Tal Afar, a commander said, noting that half of the district has been freed from the control of Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) militants since Tuesday.

News ID: 65775

Date: 30 August 2017 - 15:29

The Iraqi Federal Police troops are closing in on Daesh terrorists in al-Ayadhiya district from three directions and have liberated half of the territories in the area, Federal Police Commander Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement.

Snipers and logistical squad of the Federal Police have been stationed in al-Ayadhiya, Daesh’ last stronghold north of Tal Afar, Alsumaria news agency quoted the commander as saying.

Al-Ayadhiya is located only a few miles north of Tal Afar, a town in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh that was fully liberated days ago.

On Sunday, Iraqi forces drove Daesh terrorists from Tal Afar, clearing one of the Takfiri group’s few remaining strongholds in the country.

The recapture came just one week into the battle for Tal Afar, which once served as a way station between the terrorist group’s de facto capitals Mosul and Raqqah.

Tal Afar, which had a pre-war population of about 200,000, was the latest objective in the war on Daesh following the recapture of Mosul after a nine-month campaign that left much of the city, the biggest in northern Iraq, in ruins.