Iraqi pro-government forces have made swift progress against IS in recent months
Iraq's prime
minister says its military has retaken Hawija, the main town in one of
the last two enclaves of so-called Islamic State in the country.
Haider al-Abadi told reporters that Hawija had been "liberated" as part of an operation launched two weeks ago. Only areas on the town's outskirts remained to be recaptured, he added.
Once they fall, IS will be left with only a stretch of the Euphrates river valley around al-Qaim, in the western desert near the border with Syria.
The jihadist group still controls large parts of the valley in the neighbouring Syrian province of Deir al-Zour, but it is under pressure there from Syrian pro-government forces and a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
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With the help of US-led coalition air strikes and military advisers, they recaptured the town of Shirqat on the second day and then moved steadily south-eastwards.
On Wednesday, the operation's commander Lt Gen Abdul Amir Yarallah announced that troops had begun a major operation to "liberate" Hawija itself.
They quickly breached jihadist defences in the north-western outskirts and stormed the town centre as night fell.
By early Thursday morning, they had cleared the local government headquarters and hospital, according to federal police chief Gen Raed Jawdat.
The United Nations expressed concern earlier this week over the fate of an estimated 78,000 civilians trapped in IS-held areas of Hawija district.
Iraqi commanders said IS militants were preventing some people from leaving and might have laid explosives around the town.
Originally published on http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41509085
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