Iraq says liberation of An-Nuri mosque in Mosul symbolizes end of ISIS

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

After eight months of grinding urban warfare, the Iraqi government troops captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Islamic State's de facto capital Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group's self-styled caliphate at an end.

The return of control over the An-Nuri mosque in Mosul, where the leader of ISIS terrorist group announced the creation of the "caliphate", means the end of the pseudo-state of terrorists, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said on June 29, TASS reported.

"The return of al-Nuri Mosque and al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the Daesh state of falsehood," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement

The prime minister noted that the Iraqi authorities will continue to destroy ISIS militants until there is not a single terrorist left in Iraq.

The PM is expected to speak in the near future with a "victorious speech" in Western Mosul after the operation against the ISIS militants is completed.

The campaign to expel the IS militants from Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq and the main bulwark of terrorists, began in October last year. It involves the army special forces, the Federal Police, the rapid reaction force and the Iraqi Armed Forces. Air support is provided by the aviation of the international counter-terrorism coalition led by the United States and the government air forces of the republic.