Iraqi Prime Minister says Isis ‘will be eliminated from the country in three months’ as drive to re-take Mosul continues

THE Iraqi Prime Minister has sat that ISIS will be eliminated from the country in three months.

Haider al-Abadi made the claims as U.S.-backed forces battle to dislodge the militants from their city stronghold of Mosul.

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Abadi had previously said the city would be retaken by the end of this year but commanders blame the slower pace on the need to protect civilians who have mostly stayed in their homes rather than fleeing as expected.

Iraq state TV quoted Abadi as saying: "Conditions indicate that Iraq needs three months to eliminate Daesh (Islamic State.,"

More than two months into the operation, elite Iraqi soldiers have retaken a quarter of Mosul, but entered a planned "operational refit" this month.

A U.S. battlefield commander told Reuters on Monday Iraqi forces would resume their offensive in the coming days, in a new phase of the operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line inside the city.

Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State anywhere across the once-vast territory it controlled in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, has been held by the group since its fighters drove the U.S.-trained army out in June 2014.

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Its fall would probably end Islamic State's ambition to rule over millions of people in a caliphate, but the fighters could still mount a traditional insurgency in Iraq, and plot or inspire attacks on the West.

More than a million civilians are believed to have stayed in the city with reports the jihadists have been executing people for not cooperating.

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Earlier this month it was revealed the half buried corpse of an ISIS fighter had become a bizarre attraction in the city.

In the photograph, an Iraqi soldier carrying a machine gun looks down at the group of children while he puts one feet on the dead militant’s legs that are sticking up in the air.

This came along with the news that sick ISIS snipers killed 15 refugee kids as they tried to flee to safety in Mosul.

A security source revealed jihadis were targeting young Iraqi children to prevent their families from trying to escape the besieged city.