Iraq forces retake centre of Hawija from ISIL: army

Iraqi forces have captured the town of Hawija and the surrounding area from ISIL, the military said in a statement.

With the capture of Hawija, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's last stronghold in northern Iraq, the only area that remains under control of the group in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria.

The offensive was carried out by US-backed Iraqi government troops and armed Shia paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

"The army's 9th armoured division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and Popular Mobilisation liberated Hawija," said a statement from the joint operations commander, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah, on Thursday.

Major General Raid Shaker Jawdat, commander of Iraq's Federal Police, said "the federal forces liberated the district of Hawija, the Hawija hospital as well as the Askari, Nidaa and Thawra neighbourhoods, and are in control of the centre of the province of Hawija in full".

Iraq launched an offensive on September 21 to dislodge ISIL (also known as ISIS) from the area north of Baghdad where up to 78,000 people were estimated to be trapped, according to the United Nations.

The groups continues to control the border town of al-Qaim and the region surrounding it.

They also hold parts of Syrian side of the border, but the area under their control is shrinking as they retreat in the face of forces .

Source : Aljazeera