Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi lands in liberated Mosul, claims victory against Islamic State

Mosul : Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated the armed forces for liberating the city and on their victory over the Islamic State after 266 days of battle. IS held the city for three years.

Liberating Mosul from the IS occupation is a great victory for Iraq's anti-terror war, but the war-torn country will face grave challenges of national reconstruction and reconciliation, experts said, Xinhua reported.

Iraqi forces have liberated Mosul, the capital city of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh and the second largest city in Iraq, after nine months of fierce battle. IS had used the city as its de facto capital.

It was in Mosul that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared in 2014 the establishment of the Islamic State, a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.