Iraqi command: 25.000 IS fighters killed throughout Mosul operations

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Security operations against the Islamic State militants in Mosul left 25.000 militants killed, according to the Iraqi command that led the war to retake Iraq’s second largest city.

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, head of the Nineveh Operations at the Joint Operations Command, said in a briefing on Saturday that more than 25.000 militants were killed over the nine months of battles, including more than 450 suicide bombers.

Iraqi forces destroyed 1247 booby-trapped cars and shot down 130 drones belonging to the group besides more than 1500 diverse vehicles, Yarallah said.

The JOC fought the battle with more than 100.000 government and paramilitary troops, Yarallah added. “The Iraqi army fought a battle that no army in the world had fought,” the commander said.

Only the regions of Mahalabiya, Ayyadia and Tal Afar still witness an Islamic State existence, and with their recapture, the province becomes fully liberated, according to the commander.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over IS in Mosul on July 9th after Iraqi forces took over western Mosul’s Old City, the birthplace of the Islamic State where the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made a sermon proclaiming control over a third of Iraq and Syria.

In a separate statement, Iyad al-Assali, an Iraqi police lieutenant, told Turkish agency Anadolu that security arrested 245 suspected IS militants in western Mosul’s Old City since Iraqi troops took over the medieval area.