Over 3,000 Isis militants killed in Tal Afar: Iraqi General

tasnim) -- Iraq's Rapid Response Forces and Federal police forces claimed the lives of more than 3,000 terrorists during operations to liberate Tal Afar and al-Ayadiya districts in Nineveh province, Tal Afar Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said, Iraq's al-Sumaria news website reported.

The operation took 12 days during which over 77 explosive-laden vehicles, 13 bomb-making factories, and 66 tunnels were also destroyed, he added. 

Recently, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the northern city of Tal Afar and the entire Nineveh province had been purged of the Isis Takfiri terrorist group.

“Tal Afar has been liberated. We say to the Islamic State (Isis) fighters: Wherever you are, we are coming for you and you have no choice but to surrender or die,” Abadi said in a statement released on Thursday.

The recapture of Tal Afar was made possible with the help of the Iraqi army, Federal Police, counterterrorism units, volunteer troops, and Rapid Response Forces, Abadi said.

Tal Afar, situated about 150 kilometers from Syria's border, was among the last Isis-held cities in Iraq. The liberation of Tal Afar deprives Isis of what was once a key supply route between its territory in Syria and Iraq.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units have been leading a major operation to rid the country of the Takfiri elements.

Iraqi forces launched the Tal Afar liberation operation on August 20, one month after fully recapturing the country’s second biggest city, Mosul, which was Isis' so-called “capital” in Iraq.

Isis unleashed a campaign of death and destruction in Iraq in 2014, but it is currently retreating from much of the territory under its control in the Arab country due to recent advances made by the Iraqi forces on the battlefield.