Iraqi PM declares victory over ISIS in Mosul

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday the Islamic State is finished in Mosul, after three years of occupying one of the largest cities in the country.

In a statement from his office, al-Abadi said "the battle is settled and the remaining pockets of ISIS are encircled in the last inches of the city," and went on to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory." Al-Abadi went to Mosul on Sunday to mark the occasion, and was greeted by throngs of cheering residents as celebrations took place across the country.

It is believed that ISIS is still using people living in 50 to 100 homes in Mosul, its last major urban stronghold in Iraq, as human shields. When ISIS took over the city in 2014, 2.5 million people lived there, but in the years following, an estimated 1 million fled. Several landmarks, including the al-Nuri mosque and minaret, have been destroyed, and thousands of residents have been killed. The battle to retake Mosul began last October, and in the last few weeks, fighting has been going on from street to street, house to house, with suicide bombers attacking Iraqi forces and ISIS setting up booby traps and barricades across the Old City.

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