Tal Afar destruction too little to compare to Mosul: official
destroyed houses. (Representational photo)
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) The damage caused by the war against the Islamic State in Tal Afar town is too little compared to that in Mosul, a local official stated.
Head of the Nineveh province’s municipalities department, Abdel Qader Dakhil, told Alghad Press that “the scope of damage in Tal Afar is too little”. He added that “comparing with Mosul, there is a very big difference.”
Dakhil added that municipal teams are awaiting military engineers to clear booby-traps and military leftovers so as to begin the rehabilitation of the town.
The government declared the launch of Tal Afar operations on August 20th. Iraqi military commanders have reported daily advances and retaking of IS-held territory since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the launch of offensives.
Military commander said Sunday the town was totally recaptured with the militants cornered at an area in the northwest.
Past operations by the PMF had managed, until the end of June, to isolate Tal Afar from the Syrian borders and from the rest of Nineveh.
The United Nations says more than 30.000 were displaced as operations launched for the enclave.
Iraq’s war against Islamic State militants has displaced nearly three million Iraqis since 2014, with a U.S.-backed campaign launched in October 2016 to retake the city of Mosul displacing more than one million people, according to government and United Nations figures.
Besides the human losses, the war in Mosul, and encounters at other Islamic State havens in Iraq, have caused serious damages to infrastructure and basic services.
In July, Lise Grande, the United Nations’ human rights coordinator in Iraq, estimated the amount needed for reconstructing Mosul by more than one billion dollars.