By: Agencies
Source: MWC News
The Iraqi government and a powerful group of Shia fighters have declared victory over the the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in the key Iraqi province of Diyala.
The offensive was led by the Badr Brigade, a Shia group backing the Iraqi army.
The group held a victory rally on Monday and said it was ready to move north into ISIL strongholds.
The central government forces, various tribes and Kurdish fighters controlled by the Kurdish government in northern Iraq have been battling the ISIL, which has also come under sustained air strikes by a US-led coalition.
ISIL captured large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in an offensive last year, plunging Iraq into its worst crisis since US troops left at the end of 2011.
Defeat of ISIL in Diyala comes only days after another major blow to the armed group in neighbouring Syria. On January 26, Kurdish fighters in northern Syria took control of the fiercely-contested Syrian city of Kobane from ISIL forces after more than three months of fighting.