Iraqi security forces stand with an Islamic State flag which they pulled down in the town of Hit in Anbar province, April 2, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Wednesday its U.S.-backed military campaign against Islamic State had retaken around two-thirds of the territory seized by the militants in their lightning sweep across the country’s north and west in 2014. “Daesh’s presence in Iraqi cities and provinces has declined. After occupying 40 percent of Iraqi territory, now only 14 percent remains,” government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said in a televised statement, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. That calculation appeared rosier than recent estimates from Washington. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Alhurra TV late last month that Islamic State had lost 44 percent of the territory it had held in Iraq. Iraq’s military, along with Kurdish peshmerga forces, Shi’ite Muslim militias and Sunni tribal fighters, have recaptured several cities in the past year, including Ramadi, Tikrit and Baiji. Yet Islamic State still manages to launch deadly attacks in areas under the government’s nominal control. On Wednesday, a suicide car bomb in Baghdad’s Sadr City district killed at least 52 people and wounded more than 78. Iraqi officials say they will retake the northern city of Mosul this year, but in private many question whether that is possible. Iraq’s military opened a new front in March against the militants in the Makhmour area, which it called the first phase of a wider campaign to recapture Mosul, around 60 km (40 miles) further north. Progress has been slow, and to date Iraqi forces have taken just five villages. Reporting by Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Dominic Evans
Iraqi authorities announced on 11 May that the US-backed campaign against ISIS in Iraq has resulted in the militants losing around 60% of the territory that they once held. As a result, they estimate that the group remains in control of just 14% of Iraqi territory. It is unclear on what basis the calculations have been made, and they are at odds with figures recently cited by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who in April said that ISIS had lost 44% of its Iraqi territory. ISIS continues to be able to launch large-scale attacks, as repeat bombings in and around the capital, Baghdad, highlight. Furthermore, progress in countering the group remains slow. The military began a new campaign in March against the militants, which is part of wider moves to recapture the key city of Mosul. To date, Iraqi forces have retaken five villages.