As part of the operation to liberate Tal Afar city, launched by the Iraqi army and Hasd al Shaabi yesterday, 15 villages and hamlets have been recaptured from ISIS.

The Tal Afar Liberation Operation Action Room established by the Iraqi army announced in a written statement that 20 ISIS members were killed during clashes throughout yesterday, and 50 others during the fighting ongoing since last night.

According to the statement, 6 villages and towns southwest of the city have been captured from ISIS yesterday, and 9 other villages and towns cleansed since last night.

The statement said that ISIS gangs are launching attacks in the villages and rural areas, and majority of the ISIS force has been pulled to Tal Afar city center.

The city of Tal Afar, occupied by ISIS on 16 June 2014, is located 63 km west of Mosul. The town is mostly inhabited by Shia and Sunni Turkmens and a larger part of the Shia population was forced to migrate in the wake of the ISIS occupation.

The Iraqi army and coalition forces launched an aerial bombardment on Tal Afar on 15 August 2017. The ground operation to liberate the city was launched yesterday, 5 days after aerial strikes.

It was announced that nearly 40 thousand force including the Iraqi troops, anti-terror teams, federal police and Hashd al-Shaabi will be partaking in the ground operation to liberate the city from ISIS.

Tal Afar is known as one of the largest settlement still under ISIS occupation in Iraq and Southern Kurdistan. With the capture of Tal Afar, ISIS will be holding only Kirkuk’s Hawija district and the rural areas south-west of Mosul.