Iraqi PM announces liberation of Mosul from ISIL

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Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the "liberation" of Mosul on Sunday, bringing the ISIL's reign over the city to an end.

"The commander in chief of the armed forces (Prime Minister) Haider al-Abadi arrived in the liberated city of Mosul and congratulated the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people for the great victory," said a statement from his office.

Abadi, who has arrived in Mosul, ordered the army to wipe out the remaining ISIL militants and guarantee the security in the city.

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan congratulated Iraq on its victory in Mosul against ISIL.

The triumph symbolizes the collapse of ISIL's last urban stronghold in Iraq. Despite the terrorist group still having a grip over small scattered areas in the country, the liberation of Mosul will pave the way for national reconstruction.

Iraqi Federal police celebrate in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 8, 2017. /Reuters Photo

To celebrate the historic victory over the ISIL and hail the liberation of the city, Iraqi soldiers and civilians in Mosul cheered and jumped for joy together.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi state TV said that the forces would announce the final victory in the next hours.

The defeat was the biggest yet for ISIL three years after it seized Mosul in a lightning offensive, swept across much of the country's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

Backed by a US-led international coalition, the offensive has turned much of the city to rubble and forced tens of thousands of people to flee.

Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital city Baghdad, came under ISIL control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling ISIL militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

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Why is victory in Mosul so important for Iraq?