Iraqi soldiers celebrated in the streets of Mosul after the army said they had all but taken the city from ISIL.<br /><br />They didn’t wait for a formal declaration of victory from the army: they partied on the banks of the Tigris all the same.<br /><br />Dozens of militants from the so-called Islamic State were reported killed on Saturday, others tried to escape by swimming across the river.<br /><br />“ISIL’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said that he would not give Mosul back. Look: where are we standing now? We are in Mosul. We walked all over them – after this will go to Hawija and then to Ramadi,” boasted Iraqi federal policeman Kadhim Hussein.<br /><br />For three years the militants’ control of Mosul and Raqqa in Syria has given them a propaganda boost in their drive to build a modern-day caliphate.<br /><br />While ISIL’s grip is being loosened, the misery they leave behind is immense. Although some 900,000 people are said to have fled the city, some remain. <br /><br />A small group of ragged civilians – women, children and the elderly – were the only ones spotted in this part of Mosul on Saturday. Numbering about 15, they received first aid from security forces medics and took shelter in a damaged petrol station.<br />
