38 Militants Hanged in Iraq

Iraq has hanged 38 Sunni Muslim militants after they were sentenced to death on terrorism charges.

The mass executions were carried out at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya.

Earlier on Sept. 24, Iraq executed 42 Sunni Muslim militants on terrorism charges ranging from killing members of security forces to detonating car bombs.

All the convicted were members of Islamic State.

Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State after Iraqi forces drove its last remnants from the country.

Russian military also announced the defeat of the militants in neighbouring Syria, where Moscow is backing Syrian government forces.

Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria.

Abadi declared Dec. 10 a national holiday to be celebrated every year.

Mosul, the group’s de facto capital in Iraq, fell in July after a gruelling nine-month campaign backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

Islamic State’s Syrian capital Raqqa also fell to a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition in September.

The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare, a tactic the militants have already shown themselves capable of.