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World

Iraqi forces storm into first neighborhood in IS-held Tal Afar

2017-08-23 09:14:50

BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces battling Islamic State (IS) militants on Tuesday broke into the first neighborhood in west of the IS-held city of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, the Iraqi military said.

The commandos of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) forces initiated a new push into the neighborhood of Kifah in western Tal Afar and are fighting IS militants there, Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement.

Later on, the Iraqi army's 9th Armored Division and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units broke into the eastern side of the city, Yarallah said in a separate statement.

The advance inside the city came two days after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the start of an operation to retake control of the northern city of Tal Afar and nearby areas from IS militants.

"We announce the launch of an operation to liberate Tal Afar. I say to Daesh (IS), either you surrender or die," Abadi said in a televised speech.

Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, is the last IS redoubt in the Iraqi province of Nineveh.

The United Nations' International Organization for Migration estimates that some 10,000 to 40,000 people are still living in Tal Afar and surrounding areas.

Earlier, Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jubouri, commander of Nineveh's Operations Command, told reporters that he estimated there were between 1,500 and 2,000 IS militants left in Tal Afar.

Editor:Jiang Yiwei