Iraq 'totally liberated' from Isis, country's armed forces claim

‘Our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian borders,’ says general

Iraqi forces vehicles after the capture of Rawa, the last remaining Iraqi town under Isis control (Reuters)

Iraq has been “totally liberated” from Isis, the Iraqi armed forces claimed in a statement on Saturday.

The country’s Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, also declared the “end of the war against Isis”, AFP reported.

Its armed forces were in control of the entire Iraq-Syria border, he said.

In the announcement, Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said combat operations against the extremists have concluded after Iraqi forces retook control of the country’s border with Syria.

The statement said: “All Iraqi lands are liberated from terrorist Daesh gangs and our forces completely control the international Iraqi-Syrian borders.”

Isis fighters overran nearly a third of Iraqi territory, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, in the summer of 2014.

Over the past three-and-a-half years, Iraqi ground forces supported by the US-led coalition have retaken all the territory once held by extremists, but the group remains capable of carrying out insurgent attacks.

Additional reporting by agencies