Iraqi forces recapture town of Nimrud in south of Mosul

The Iraqi security forces on Sunday recaptured a town of Nimrud near the archeological site of Nimrud from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in south of the city of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.

"The troops from the 9th Armored Division liberated the town of Nimrud completely and raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings after the enemy suffered heavy casualties," said a statement by a media office affiliated to the Joint Operations Command (JOC).

The town of Nimrud, some 30 km south of Mosul, lies west of the ruins of the ancient Assyrian site of Nimrud. The statement did not say whether the archeological site was also recaptured.

In 2015, the ancient site was partially destroyed during a campaign of destruction against heritage sites under the control of the IS militants, in addition to other archeological sites in the ancient province of Nineveh.

The archeological site of Nimrud was founded in the 13th century B.C. and became the capital of Assyrian empire.

The troops advance in south of Mosul was part of a major offensive announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city.

Earlier in the month, hundreds of the Counter-Terrorism Service commandos and Iraqi army made a significant progress from three directions at the eastern side of Mosul, locally known as the left bank of the Tigris River, and managed to recapture some 10 districts out of about 60 districts on both sides of the city.

Mosul, some 400 km north of Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Endit