Iraqi forces tighten grip on IS stronghold in Tal Afar

Iraqi security forces battling Islamic State (IS) terrorists on Thursday extended their grip in the city of Tal Afar as they seized four neighbourhoods from the group, the Iraqi military said.

The army's 9th Armored Division and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units freed al-Nour al-Thani neighbourhood in eastern the city after heavy clashes with IS terrorists and initiated a new progress at the edge of the adjacent al-Uroubah neighbourhood, Xinhua quoted Lt Gen Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) as saying.

The Iraqi soldiers, backed by armoured vehicles broke into the eastern neighbourhood of al-Jazira and recaptured part of it, along with seizing al-Saray police station and the civil defence building, Yarallah said.

In western Tal Afar, the federal police and the Hashd Shaabi units freed al-Wahda and raised the Iraqi flags over some of its buildings after they defeated terrorists group and started a new push on the edge of the adjacent al-Rabie neighborhood, Yarallah added.

The commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) initiated a new push at the edge of the adjacent al-Nidaa neighborhood, Yarallah noted.

--IANS

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