Iraq's Prime Minister has returned to Mosul and declared “total victory” in the fight against Isis, although fighting continues.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Iraqi troops on their “victory” on previous occasions, in spite of the ongoing clashes.
The latest announcement came in a statement posted on Twitter.
Hours earlier, Associated Press reporters had seen heavy fighting still under way.
It was not immediately clear if the clashes had ended in the area, which had been a strong-hold for the self-declared caliphate.
US-backed Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake Mosul in October, and in recent days they had confined the remaining few hundred militants in an area measuring less than a square kilometre.
Mr al-Abadi visited Mosul on Sunday to congratulate the troops, even as fighting still raged nearby.
The battle for Mosul has devastated Iraq's second city, killed thousands of people and displaced nearly a million.
It is feared the estimated 20,000 people who remain trapped in the city could be used as human shields by the remaining jihadists.
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