Iraq declares ISIS's 'fictitious state has fallen'

Iraq announced the collapse of the Islamic State within its borders on Thursday after Iraqi troops recaptured the grand mosque of Mosul, Reuters reports.

The 850-year-old Grand al-Nuri Mosque is the symbolic heart of ISIS's de facto capital, where leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the caliphate three years ago to the day, on June 29, 2014. ISIS blew up the mosque last week as forces closed in following an eight-month U.S.-backed siege on Mosul.

Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told state TV "[ISIS's] fictitious state has fallen" and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion." Baghdadi is thought to have fled Mosul and gone into hiding on the Syrian border, The Guardian reports.

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