The Iraqi army reached the banks of the Tigris River on the outskirts of al-Qayyara early morning Wednesday (July 13th) after inflicting heavy losses on the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), Ninawa Operations Commander Nejim Edin Karim al-Jubury announced.

"We are now just five kilometres away from entering al-Qayyara and declaring its liberation,” he told Al-Shorfa.

Al-Jubury said 100 ISIL fighters have been killed in the past two days, and the losses have forced them to withdraw from the agricultural areas around the town, which is situated 60 kilometres south of Mosul.

“We are facing suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmines, but we are making progress, and we have generous aerial support by the international coalition,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have cleared al-Qayyara air base of IEDs left behind by ISIL following the group's expulsion, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence said Wednesday (July 13th).

“Elements of the 9th Armoured Division, the Counter-Terrorism Agency and supporting units started clearing al-Qayyara air base of explosives left behind by ISIL terrorist gangs after the armed forces liberated the base a few days ago,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Many IEDs intended to be blown up against the armed forces to impede their progress towards their targets, especially liberating all usurped lands, have been cleared,” the statement said.

“Engineering units have played a major role in disarming many of these IEDs,” it continued.