Iraq marks anniversary of victory over Islamic State

TIL Desk/World/Baghdad/ Iraq on Monday celebrated the anniversary of its costly victory over the Islamic State group,which has lost virtually all the territory it once held but still carries outs poradic attacks. The government declared victory last December after agrueling three-year war in which tens of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Entire towns and neighborhoods were reduced to rubble in the fighting.

The government declared Monday a national holiday, and a moment of silence is planned for later in the day. Checkpoints in the capital were decorated with Iraqi flags and balloons, as security forces patrolled the streets playing patriotic music.

As part of the celebrations, authorities plan to reopen parts of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone home to key government offices and embassies to the public. The move is billed as an act of transparency following protests against corruption and poor public services. The Islamic State group, which traces its roots back to the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion, swept into Iraq from neighbouring Syria in the summer of 2014.