Iraqi forces take Daesh bastion south of Mosul

NINEVEH, Iraq

Iraqi forces on Saturday captured Hammam al-Alil district, the last Daesh stronghold south of Mosul in northern Iraq.

According to the Iraqi state TV, army and police forces fully seized control of the Daesh-held district and raised the Iraqi flag there.

Hammal al-Alil was the last Daesh stronghold, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Mosul.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi police officer said eight other villages were also cleared off Daesh in the area Saturday.

According to Lt. Gen. Shakir Javdat, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces recaptured villages of Az-Ziftiyye, Taktak and Senanik in eastern Mosul as well as the villages of Tishe, Sayyid Hassan, Harara, Abu Shikke and Al-Farisiyye on the western side of the city.

Earlier Saturday, Abdulamir Rashid Yarullah, head of the army's Nineveh Operations Command, said Iraqi troops had seized control of several districts south of Mosul.

Last month, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes -- launched a wide-ranging operation aimed at retaking Mosul, the last Daesh bastion in northern Iraq, from the terrorist group.

In mid-2014, Daesh captured Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, before overrunning vast swathes of territory in the country’s north and west.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and the U.S.-led air coalition, retake much territory.