Iraq's Vice President: US contributed to ISIS creation

Abdelhamid Abaaoud - Photo: Twitter / @sudouest

The recapture of Mosul is an achievement of the Iraqi people while the US is trying to highjack it and claims it was them who "led that war," Iraq's Vice President Nouri al-Maliki has told the RIA Novosti news agency.

"Yes, they supported us with aviation, but the main credit goes to the Iraqi soldiers, people's militia, Iraqi air force," al-Maliki stated in his interview with the Russian news agency.

He added that he "regrets and denies [Americans] claiming the victory [in Mosul] is their achievement."

"In reality, this is the victory of the Iraqi army," al-Maliki said, revealing that the victory came a high cost, with some 20,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers having been either killed or wounded.

The Iraqi military did everything possible "not to destroy the city more than...