Federal police members gather during a battle with ISIS militants in Mosul

Elite Iraqi security forces dislodged ISIS militants from the main government building in Mosul on Tuesday, their last major city stronghold in Iraq, an Iraqi spokesman said.

A special Rapid Response team stormed the Nineveh governorate building and the surrounding government complex in an overnight operation, Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi, a spokesman for the elite interior ministry unit, told Reuters.

“They killed tens from Daesh,” he said, referring to ISIS by one of its Arabic acronyms.

Recapturing the site would help Iraqi forces attack the militants in the nearby old city center and mark a symbolic step toward restoring state authority over Mosul, even though the buildings are destroyed and not being used by ISIS.

Also on Tuesday, Iraqi security forces recaptured the Mosul museum, where ISIS militants infamously filmed themselves smashing priceless artefacts.

Iraqi forces “recaptured the archaeological museum,” Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a statement, without specifying when this occurred.

The museum was on a police list of sites recaptured from ISIS during an ongoing offensive to reclaim Mosul, along with the central bank building, which was looted by the militants.

A man cries while he carries his daughter as he walks from ISIS-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017.