Iraqi forces captured the border town of Rawa, the last remaining town under Islamic State control, on Friday, signaling the complete defeat of the group's self-proclaimed caliphate.

An Iraqi military delegation is preparing to take control of the Kurdistan region border with Syria, an Iraqi military statement said on Tuesday.

An Iraqi military delegation is preparing to take control of the Kurdistan region border with Syria, an Iraqi military statement said on Tuesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi defended the role of an Iranian-backed paramilitary force at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday in Baghdad.

Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk on Monday, responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country.

Iraqi forces captured several positions south of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters on Monday in their bid to regain control of the oil-rich city, which is part of a region that declared itself independent at a referendum last month.

Iraqi forces have captured Islamic State�s last stronghold in northern Iraq, the military said on Thursday, leaving the militant group holed up in pockets of land by the Syrian border, across which its self-proclaimed �caliphate� once stretched.

Bahrain�s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has offered its congratulations to Iraq�s government and people on the liberation of Tal Afar from the grip of ISIS, highlighting the determination of the Iraqi government and armed forces led by Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi.

Iraqi government forces broke through Islamic State�s lines inside Tal Afar on Friday, reaching the old city center and the neighborhood around the Ottoman-era citadel, according to a military statement.

Iraqi forces breached on Tuesday the city limits of Tal Afar, an Islamic State stronghold west of Mosul, military authorities said.

Iraq's army said it encircled Islamic State's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul on Tuesday after taking over an area to the north of the densely populated historic district.

Iraqi forces pushed further into Mosul from the north on the second day of a new push to speed up the nearly seven-month attempt to dislodge Islamic State, commanders said on Friday.

Iraqi forces said they launched new assaults in Mosul's Old City on Monday after more than two weeks of only small advances and a high civilian death toll appeared to prompt a change in tactics.

U.S.-backed Iraqi army units on Wednesday took control of the last major road out of western Mosul that had been in Islamic State's hands, trapping the militants in a shrinking area within the city, a general and residents said.

Iraqi Shi'ite forces fighting Islamic State west of Mosul aim to clear a large strip of land on the border with Syria to prevent the militants melting into the remote desert region and using it as a base for counter attacks, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Iraqi special forces battling to clear Islamic State from eastern Mosul have killed nearly 1,000 militants but fighting has slowed as troops face a mobile enemy hidden among thousands of civilians in the city, a top commander said.

Iraqi government forces, with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants' last major stronghold in the country.