(CNN) Iraqi forces have seized the strategically important town of Tal Afar from ISIS, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Thursday.

An operation to retake the northwestern town, captured by the extremists on June 16, 2014, began 10 days ago

Tal Afar was the last town still under the control of ISIS militants in Iraq's Nineveh province following the liberation of Mosul, about 45 miles to the east.

"The joy of victory has been completed and the entire province of Nineveh has become in the hands of our heroic forces," al-Abadi said, in a statement released Thursday by his media office.

"I declare to you that Tal Afar has joined the liberated Mosul and returned to the homeland."

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