Article

2018-07-05 Iraq

Army forces, allies launch operation to capture Daesh militants in central Iraq

Finally they are together and separately falling on the turbans like wolves on a fold.

[PRESSTV] Iraqi government forces, backed by allied voluntary fighters from Popular Mobilization Units, have mounted a large-scale offensive in the central part of the war-ravaged Arab country to hunt down the remnants of the ISIS Takfiri

...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group.

The media bureau of Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement on Wednesday that army, federal police, special forces, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had launched "a vast operation to clear out the region east of the Diyala-Kirkuk" highway.

The statement added that the operation, dubbed "Vengeance for the Martyrs," is backed by Iraqi Air Force fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

Iraqi government forces and their allies cleared large part of the area during the early hours of the offensives, destroying nine Lion of Islam hideouts and a car rigged with explosives.

One ISIS terrorist was killed and nine suspects were captured as well. Iraqi troops also discovered a ISIS medical center and a base for training Lion of Islam Lion of Islams, the JOC noted.

Separately, Hashd al-Sha’abi said in a statement that members of the Interior Ministry's elite rapid response force had arrived at the defensive lines of Peshmerga forces after clearing five villages near Hamrin mountain range from ISIS Takfiris.

The troops found eight boom belts, defused 21 roadside kabooms and destroyed eight terrorist hideouts.

On June 30, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, pledged to hunt down ISIS Lions of Islam across Iraq after recent attacks and abductions carried out by the terrorist group.

Security campaign mounted in Kirkuk in response to Islamic State attacks

Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Federal police forces have launched a wide-scale security campaign in response to recent attacks launched by Islamic State (IS) group on the villages of Kirkuk, a security source was quoted as saying.

“The campaign was mounted in southern and western Kirkuk with the aim of eliminating IS militants, who take shelter in this area,” the source told Iraqi website Alghad Press.

The source added that the campaign was launched “in the aftermath of attacks launched by Islamic State militants on a number of villages” where they set up fake checkpoints wearing military uniforms.

Kirkuk officials always urge reinforcing military troops in the south and west of the province, as the region still has Islamic State members who escaped during liberation of Hawija to remote areas.

Kurdish PM says ready to cooperate with Baghdad to secure disputed areas

Erbil (Iraqinews.com) – President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Masoud Barzani met on Wednesday with a leader of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition, which came first in the May 12 parliamentary elections, where they discussed the formation of the new Iraqi government.

According to a statement issued by the media office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Barzani met today “at his residence in Erbil with Raid Fahmi, the leader in al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition and the secretary general of Iraqi Communist Party.”

“The two sides probed the formation of the new Iraqi government,” the statement read, adding that Fahmi expressed, during the meeting, his desire for “all Iraqi parties to be able to take part in the political life in Iraq following the announcement of official results of parliamentary elections.”

Barzani, meanwhile, stressed the importance of forming the “new Iraqi government based on the three principles of partnership, consensus and balance.”

UPDATE: Iraqi troops kill five Islamic State militants, destroy 10 hotbeds in Kirkuk

Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi police forces killed on Wednesday five Islamic State terrorists and destroyed 10 of their hotbeds in Kirkuk, a police chief was quoted as saying.

Iraqi website Alghad Press quoted commander of the Iraqi Federal Police Maj. Gen. Raed Shaker Jawdat as saying that the troops also “destroyed five booby-trapped vehicles, seized a mortar and raided an IS training camp in al-Orouba village in Kirkuk.”

“Four IS tunnels were destroyed and 10 suspects were arrested during the security campaign as well,” Jawdat pointed out.

Federal police launched a wide-scale security campaign in Kirkuk earlier in the day.

Iraqi forces target ISIS, ‘White Flags’ on Kirkuk-Khurmatu-Kifri road

[Rudaw] Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have launched a sweep up operation on the Kirkuk-Khurmatu-Kifri road in a bid to capture ISIS and ‘White Flags’ militants in the unstable area.

“The Iraqi forces have started an operation on the Kirkuk-Khurmatu-Kifri road to sweep up the area,” Mala Karim Shukr, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)’s Hamrin office, told Rudaw.

One member of the ISF was killed and seven more were injured in a bombing in the village of Palkana, Shukr said.

“The operation is a sweep up and it is for capturing ISIS and White Flags members in Hamrin,” Shukr added.

The White Flags is thought to be one of a number of groups to emerge from the fragments of ISIS following its ejection from Iraq’s major urban centers.

Although the Iraqi government declared the defeat of ISIS in December 2017, there have been sporadic military confrontations between ISIS remnants and ISF including the Kurdish Peshmerga — around Makhmour and in the Hamrin mountains in Saladin province.

The operation comes as the Iraqi Army and the federal government bolster efforts to secure the dangerous stretch of road, which sees frequent ISIS kidnappings and assassinations.

Last week ISIS executed six members of the security forces it had kidnapped in the area, prompting the Iraqi government to respond by executing 12 convicted terrorists.

“With the supervision and coordination of the Joint Operations Command, the army, federal police, rapid response [forces], Hashd al-Shaabi, the Diyala and Saladin police sectors, and in coordination with the Peshmerga forces, with the backing of air forces, the army’s air force and the Coalition forces, initiate a wide operation to cleanse the area located to the east of Kirkuk-Diyala road,” Amid Yahya Rasul, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The federal police, within the ‘Avenging the Martyrs’ operation to cleanse the areas located to the east of the Diyala road, which started this morning, managed to kill a terrorist, destroy a VBIED [vehicle-borne improvised explosive device], find a 120 mm mortar, destroy nine foxholes, detain nine suspects, a medical center and another for training Daesh elements.”

“Rapid Forces Division, within the ‘Avenging the Martyrs’ operation for cleansing the areas located to the east of the Diyala road and Salahaddin, managed to accomplish its goals and reach Peshmerga lines, find eight explosive vests, two bazookas, destroys eight foxholes, demine 21 planted bombs, and cleanse the Agha Mishit, Shirawa, Palakana, al-Nahran and Pilka villages,” the statement added.

A high ranking Hashd al-Shaabi official was killed on the Tuz Khurmatu-Kirkuk road on Monday, the group’s media announced in a statement. Maj. Gen. Ali Khalifa was assistant commander of East Tigris Operations for the Shiite militia forces. No details about how he died were immediately released.

Peshmerga ‘turn down’ Iraqi request to pursue ISIS into Kurdish controlled area

Showing a reasonable preference that the wolves in Iraqi uniforms fall only on non-Kurdish folds...

[Rudaw] Peshmerga officials stationed near Kirkuk rejected a request from a visiting Iraqi Army delegation on Wednesday to enter Kurdish controlled territory to carry out an operation against ISIS elements.

“A delegation from the Iraqi Joint Forces visited us ... asking us to allow them to carry out raids [against ISIS] in Laylan, Qarahanjir and Shwan areas in Kirkuk,” said Brig. Gen. Saed Idris, the deputy commander of the Brigade 1 of the Peshmerga.

Qarahanjir and Shwan are under the control of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

This is the first such meeting between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in Kirkuk since the October 16 events, which saw the Peshmerga pull out its forces in the face of a major offensive backed by Baghdad.

The Iraqi Army and Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias are trying to halt the reemergence of ISIS in Kirkuk and other Sunni dominated areas.

Kurdish forces are keen to maintain control over the areas they still hold and are wary of any encroachment by the Iraqi Army and Hashd al-Shaabi.

Posted by Fred 2018-07-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top
File under: Islamic State