Hawzah News Agency (Tal Afar, Iraq) - Counter - terrorism units have taken control of the center of the city, which includes its historic Ottoman citadel.

“They raised the Iraqi flag on the citadel,” General Abdulamir Yarallah, commander of military operations in the battle for Tal Afar, said in a statement.

The advance, less than a week into an assault on the strategic city, comes after  Iraqi prime minister Haidar al-Abadi declared victory in July over the terrorists in Iraq’s second city Mosul, where ISIL declared its “caliphate” in 2014.

Iraqi forces now hold “94 percent of the city, 27 out of 29” districts including the centre and citadel, according to the Joint Operations Command (JOC) which coordinates the anti-ISIL operation in Iraq.