Islamic State moves to alternative headquarters in Tal Afar

Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has considered Tal Afar town, located west of Mosul, as an alternative headquarters for its main departments, after admitting its defeat in Mosul.

AlSumaria News quoted a source as saying that “IS issued a brief statement in Tal Afar announcing that all the IS departments are working through alternative headquarters at Tal Afar, which indicates the group’s defeat.”

“IS admitted its loss at its last stronghold in Mosul’s Old City after a battle between its militants against security troops,” the anonymous source added.

“The shock caused by losing the Old City was hard as the militants used to call it as Baghdadi’s [the group’s supreme leader] strongest lair in Mosul for the many Arab and foreign militants and suicide attackers there,” the source added.

In late June, a top leader in the town declared during a a sermon of Friday prayer that the town has become a temporary headquarter for the Caliphate.

On Friday, the group reportedly canceled the Friday prayers at all mosques in the town after a curfew was imposed in the wake of heavy shelling against procession of a prominent Arab leader there.

A source was quoted last week as saying that non-Iraqi IS militants executed the last local leader in Tal Afar and the town is currently run by Arab and foreign members after eliminating all the Iraqi leaders.

Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014.