BAGHDAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for the victory achieved by the Iraqi forces that liberated the city of Mosul, the Iraqi government said on Tuesday.
The statement released by Abadi's office said that the prime minister had received a phone call from Trump, who expressed his "respect and appreciation to the bravery of the Iraqi forces and their leadership."
For his part, Abadi "hailed the international support for Iraq in its fighting against the terrorism of Daesh (IS group), asserting the need to speed up the liberation of the remaining Iraqi territories to eradicate the gangs of terrorist Daesh group," the statement said.
The phone call came a day after Abadi formally declared the liberation of Mosul from IS after nearly nine months of fierce battle to dislodge the extremist militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.
"I declare to the whole world the end, failure and collapse of Daesh state, the state of IS group terrorism, which they announced it here in Mosul three years ago," Abadi said in a speech in Mosul.
On Oct. 17, 2016, Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq.
Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, came under IS control in June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
