.jpg)
.jpeg)
Iraq declares fall of 'fictitious caliphate' following recapture of Mosul mosque
Urban warfare in the city has been ongoing for eight months are Iraqi forces have been fighting to rid the city of its remaining militants
IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had announced the organisation's self-styled caliphate from the mosque back in 2014
Eight months after the start of combat with the aim of retaking the city of Mosul, the Iraqi government on Thursday declared that the Islamic States (IS) so-called caliphate in the Levante had come to an end.
"Their fictitious state has fallen," an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV.
The announcement was made following the capture of the ruined mosque in Mosul, the site from which the leader of the jihadist organisation Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the caliphate three years ago.
Iraqi authorities have said that urban warfare in the city will continue for the time being, with the long battle for Mosul expected to come to an end in the coming days as the remaining Islamic State fighters are now bottled up in just a handful of neighborhoods of the Old City.
The seizure of the 850-year-old mosque is being viewed as a huge symbolic victory for the Iraqi forces fighting to recapture the Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.
The insurgents blew up the medieval mosque and its famed leaning minaret a week ago as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces started a push in its direction. Their black flag had been flying from al-Hadba (The Hunchback) minaret since June 2014.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued instructions to bring the battle to its conclusion," his office said.
The fall of Mosul would in effect mark the end of the Iraqi half of the IS caliphate even though the hardline group would still control territory west and south of the city. Its capital in Syria, Raqqa, is also besieged by a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition.
The cost of the battle has been enormous, however. In addition to military casualties, thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed.
About 900,000 people, nearly half the pre-war population of the northern city, have fled the battle, mostly taking refuge in camps or with relatives and friends, according to aid groups.
Those trapped in the city suffered hunger and deprivation as well as death or injury, and many buildings have been ruined.
