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| Iraq declares Ramadi liberated from Islamic State | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Iraqi city of Ramadi has been "liberated" from so-called Islamic State, the Iraqi military has declared. | |
| Spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Rasul said forces had achieved an "epic" victory, adding the Iraqi flag had been raised over the government complex there. | |
| The city's recapture is seen as a major reversal for the jihadist group. The jihadists had seized it in May, in an embarrassing defeat for the army. | |
| Iraqi government forces had been fighting to retake it for weeks. | |
| Troops managed to capture the government compound on Sunday, flushing out or killing Islamic State (IS) fighters and suicide bombers who had been holding out in the buildings. | |
| The military said remaining IS militants have headed out to the north-east of Ramadi. | |
| The operation to recapture Ramadi, about 55 miles (90km) west of Baghdad, began in early November. | |
| It was backed by US-led coalition air strikes, but made slow progress, mainly because the government chose not to use the powerful Shia-dominated paramilitary force that helped it regain the mainly Sunni northern city of Tikrit, to avoid increasing sectarian tensions. |