Iraq’s war against the Islamic State (Isil) is over and the jihadist group has been no longer controls any territory inside the country, Iraq’s prime minister declared on Saturday.

Haider al-Abadi said Isil forces had been driven from their final pockets of control and that the Iraqi state was now fully in control of the country’s border with Syria.

"Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh [Isil]," Mr Abadi told a conference in Baghdad.

"Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We have triumphed in little time.”

His announcement marked the end of four years of formal combat operations after Isil swept into western Iraq from Syria in early 2014. Within months they had seized control of much of northern Iraq, including the city of Mosul, and threatened to march assault Iraqi Kurdistan.