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		</div><p>The so-called &#8216;Islamic State&#8217; group has lost more than three-quarters of the territory it seized when it swept across Iraq in the summer of 2014, the Iraqi military said.</p>
<p>Military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said the extremist group currently controls less than 12,000 square miles in Iraq, or 6.8% of the country&#8217;s territory, down from more than 40% at its height.<br />
The extremist group has also lost ground in Syria, and is currently fighting US-backed forces near Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.</p>
<p>Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have gradually pushed the militants out of a string of towns and cities over the past two years, and are currently battling the extremists in Mosul, Iraq&#8217;s second largest city.<br />
Iraq declared eastern Mosul &#8220;fully liberated&#8221; in January, and Rasool said Iraqi forces have retaken more than half of the more densely populated western side.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our troops are very cautious in their advance,&#8221; Brig Gen Rasool told reporters in Baghdad. &#8220;The biggest challenge they face is the civilians.&#8221;</p>
<p>Colonel John Dorrian, a US spokesman for the coalition, said the fight for western Mosul has been &#8220;difficult&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;The enemy&#8217;s tactics are not only hiding among the civilian population but also actively pulling civilians into harm&#8217;s way, surrounding their snipers with civilians, loading buildings that they are firing from with civilians and publicly executing civilians who are trying escape the danger,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Victory against IS has come at a staggering cost, with some towns and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble by air strikes and shelling.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced, and many have been unable to return, even after the fighting, because of demolished infrastructure and the lingering threat of attacks.</p>
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