In Iraq, Islamic State militants while trying to flee the battlefield in Mosul, threw themselves into the River Tigris today. Iraqi forces reached the riverbank and an official declaration of victory from the government is expected soon. Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, told state TV that 30 militants had been killed attempting to get away by swimming across the Tigris.<br/><br/>Iraqi officials said they have almost regained full control of Mosul. He said, the militants have been driven from all but a patch of territory on the western bank of the Tigris bisecting Mosul, where they have staged a last stand in the narrow alleys of the Old City.<br/><br/>Eight months of combat has left parts of the city in ruins, killed thousands of civilians and displaced nearly one million people. <br/><br/>Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have tried to retake the city since 17 October last year. IS seized Mosul in June 2014 before sweeping across much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland and proclaiming a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria.