MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The targets in Tal Afar, located 30 miles away from Mosul, were destroyed as part of preparations to liberate the city.
"The Iraqi Air Force struck a number of IS [Daesh] strongholds in the center of Tal Afar city on the basis of militia's intelligence data and bombed the bridges used by the IS militants for relocation inside the city," local militia said in a statement.
The militants reportedly withdrew from the southern outskirts of Tal Afar, destroying the paved road to hinder the Iraqi army's advance toward the city.
On July 26, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi pledged to liberate both the city of Tal Afar in the Nineveh Province and Al-Hawija district in Kirkuk from the terrorist group in the same resolute manner in which the liberation of Iraq's Mosul was conducted. Mosul was liberated on July 9.
