Victory in Monsul! After bloody eight-months battle; Iraq Prime Minister declares ISIS defeated in the city

Iraq has declared victory over ISIS in the city of Mosul after bloody eight-month battle to recapture it from terrorists.

The Prime Minister, Haider Abadi, arrived in the city one day after Iraqi state television said victory was "within hours"

His office wrote on Twitter: "Prime Minister Dr. Haider Abadi arrives in the liberated city of Mosul and blesses the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people to achieve the great victory."

Islamic State militants seized it in June 2014 before taking much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaiming a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

The city was overrun in 2014 and when ISIS declared its caliphate and a mission to recapture the city by the Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, has been on since 17 October last year.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen have also been involved in the battle.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived to "congratulate the armed forces and the Iraqi people" on the final defeat of IS in Mosul on Sunday, the statement said.

Prime Minister of Iraq greets soldiers upon his arrival

Soldiers cheer as Mosul is liberated

The ISIS flag is torn down and turned upside down as victory approached (Image: AFP)

Iraqi forces had been battling remaining pockets of jihadists desperately holding out in a tiny area near the Old City.

The government announced the full "liberation" of eastern Mosul in January, but the west of the city has presented a more difficult challenge, with its narrow, winding streets.

Iraqi special forces are closing in on the last remnants of ISIS in Mosul, fighting savage encounters in an area only the size of two football pitches.

Senior army commanders do not expect any of the fanatics will surrender in their last-stand battle around the al-Nouri Mosque – now dubbed “ISIS’s ground zero”.

Much of Mosul has been reduced to ruins in the bloody conflict (Image: Rowan Griffiths/Sunday Mirror)

The remaining jihadists have been bombarded by the army (Image: AFP)

Iraqi generals believe there are more than 1,000 left but many are mortally wounded and dying as their lunatic fellow terrorists battle to hang on to the bitter end.

Other observers suspect there is just a handful of fighters left, maybe no more than 100.

An Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) member stands guard (Image: AFP)

Months of urban warfare have displaced 900,000 people, about half the city's pre-war population and killed thousands, according to aid organisations.

Without Mosul, ISIS is confined to rural areas of Iraq's desert.