The Iraqi forces on Thursday (January 19th) fully recaptured the town of Tall Kayf, north-east of Mosul, from the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), the Joint Operations Command said.

"Units from the 9th Armoured Division and the 3rd Brigade stormed Tall Kayf, 10 kilometres north-east of Mosul, and rolled into its neighbourhoods amid heavy losses for ISIL," the command said in a statement.

Also on Thursday, Iraqi forces battled ISIL holdouts in the last pockets of east Mosul still held by the group, AFP reported.

The head of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service, which has been doing most of the fighting in Mosul, as well as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced Wednesday that the city's east bank had been "liberated" .

Staff Lt. Gen. Abdulghani al-Assadi, a top commander in the CTS, said that his forces were helping the Iraqi army battle remaining extremists in two areas in the north of the city that include the presidential palaces and a hotel.

Both places are on the east bank of the Tigris River that divides Mosul, whose western side is still under full ISIL control.

On Thursday morning, "there was clashing with snipers and also (machine gun) positions, and they were dealt with by coalition aviation and now our units are going to complete the clearing operation", al-Assadi said.