Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraqi forces will move to liberate the strategic northern city of Mosul once they have freed Anbar’s provincial capital city of Ramadi from ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraqi forces will move to liberate the strategic northern city of Mosul once they have freed Anbar’s provincial capital city of Ramadi from ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

“The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after the victory in Ramadi,” Abadi said in a statement on Friday.

Abadi’s remarks came on the same day as volunteer fighters fighting the Takfiri militants purged areas in al-Karmah some 48 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, and adjacent areas of ISIL militants following intense clashes.

On Thursday evening, Iraqi intelligence forces and army troops launched an operation in Ramadi, about 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, and captured a high-ranking ISIL militant commander identified by the nom de guerre Abu Bakr.

They also secured a road in the town of Albu Faraj, located more than 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the capital, clearing booby-trapped houses and defusing several improvised explosive devices.

Iraqi volunteer troopers also destroyed several explosives-laden vehicles in the al-Sabihat region of Karmah as ISIL militants sought to ram the cars into the positions of the Popular Mobilization units.