Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi pledged Wednesday that the Iraqi security forces will liberate all territories seized by the extremist Islamic State (IS) militant group.

"The Iraqi forces are making great victories on Daash (first Arabic letters of Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, which changed later to IS) terrorist organization in different fronts and have liberated many territories. Our troops' progress is continuing and we are determined to liberate all the Iraqi territories," a statement from Abadi's office quoted him as saying after meeting with British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, who's paying an official visit to Baghdad.

"We have worked to create a climate of confidence that boosted the participation of the tribes and their cooperation with our armed forces," Abadi said.

For his part, Fallon hailed the latest victories of the Iraqi forces, renewing his country's pledge to provide help to Iraqi forces in the fields of arming, training and all what the Iraqi forces need in their fight against terrorism.

Late on Tuesday, Fallon met with his Iraqi counterpart Khalid al-Obiedi and the two ministers discussed plans and arrangements to combat the IS militant group, including means to assist the Iraqi forces to improve their combat capability in order to eradicate terrorism in the country.

Britain is a member of a U.S.-led coalition carrying out air strikes against the extremist IS militants in Iraq and Syria.

Since June, the security situation began to drastically deteriorate in the country, when the IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in several predominantly Sunni provinces.
(Xinhua)