Battle for Mosul: Iraq PM Abadi formally declares victory

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has formally declared victory over so-called Islamic State (IS) in Mosul.
Mr Abadi waved a national flag with troops after announcing the "collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood".
Earlier, clashes were reported in a small part of Old City where a few dozen IS militants were holding out.
The battle for Mosul has taken almost nine months, left large areas in ruins, killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than 920,000 others.
Commanders from the US-led coalition that has provided air and ground support to Iraqi forces said the urban combat had been most intense since World War Two.
Mr Abadi made the declaration of victory at the operations room of the Counter-Terrorism Service, whose elite forces were the first to enter Mosul in November.
Using a pejorative term for IS based on an Arabic acronym of its former name, he said: "I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism, which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul."
But Mr Abadi warned that more challenges lay ahead.
"We have another mission ahead of us - to create stability, to build and clear Daesh cells.
"And that requires an intelligence and security effort, and the unity which enabled us to fight Daesh," he added, before waving an Iraqi national flag.
Mosul control over time
The US-led coalition confirmed that while areas of the Old City still had to be cleared of explosive devices and possible IS fighters in hiding, the Iraqi security forces had Mosul "firmly under their control".
The senior American commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, congratulated the Iraqi security forces on their "historic victory against a brutal and evil enemy".
"Make no mistake; this victory alone does not eliminate [IS] and there is still a tough fight ahead. But the loss of one of its twin capitals and a jewel of their so-called caliphate is a decisive blow," he said.

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