MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iraqi military retook the third neighborhood of Tal Afar district within the operation aimed at liberation of Northern Iraq' district from the Islamic State terrorist group (Daesh), local media reported Wednesday.
Gen. Abul-Amir Yarullah, the commander of the operation, said in a statement that the Iraqi army jointly with the People's Mobilization Forces had retaken Tal Afar’s eastern Al-Tanak neighborhood, the Anadolu news agency reported. The Iraqi troops now control over 70 percent of Tal Afar’s southwestern Al-Jazeera neighborhood.
On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the beginning of the military offensive aimed at retaking Tal Afar, which is located 30 miles away from recently liberated Mosul. Tal Afar is the last major stronghold of the Daesh militants on the border of Iraq with Syria.