ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Mosul University on Saturday and met with the university's president and staff, where they showcased the level of progress achieved years after brutal Islamic State (ISIS) rule.
"Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's visit to the university is historic and important, as he is the first prime minister to visit the university after its reclamation from ISIS terrorist gangs," university president Qussay Kamaladdin told state media.
Mosul University's students numbered 38,000 before ISIS' onslaught in 2014, but they number more than 70,000 students according to a student count on Saturday, the university president added.
The university's famed library used to house millions of titles before Mosul's takeover by jihadists. Now, five years after their defeat, the city is trying to rebuild its collection of books and manuscripts, of which 85 percent were lost during ISIS occupation.
Iraq's first printing press was operating in Mosul in the second half of the 19th century.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi land in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but it continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
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