The head of the Iraqi mission to the European Union on Friday said the defeat of Islamic State in its stronghold Mosul, was “a victory for the whole world.”

 Jawad Al-Hindawi was speaking in Brussels as Iraq is holding a week-long celebration of the retaking of Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

“There are still elements of the Islamic State in the Mosul area,’’ Al Hindawi said, adding that some militants had tried to blend in with the civilian population.

Hindawi said that the political, economic and social reconstruction of Iraq had to begin.

He called on Europe for support, in order to defeat Islamic State at an ideological and social level.

He said that as for unilateral plans by the Iraqi Kurdish region to hold an independence vote in September, a dialogue between the federal government of Iraq and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan was the only way forward.

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