| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Iraq | |
| Iraqi army fights to wrest Sulaiman Pek from militants | |
| 2014-02-16 | |
| Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships fought on Saturday to retake full control of a northern town from militants who overran parts of it earlier this week, the mayor and other local officials said, Reuters reported. Talib Mohammed, the mayor of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, said the army had met fierce resistance in some parts of the town, after gaining some ground on Friday. "Snipers and roadside bombs are preventing the army from totally controlling the town," he said. "A police captain was killed by a sniper this morning while he was trying to evacuate his family." Militants raised the black flag of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - a Sunni group also fighting in neighboring Syria - over parts of Sulaiman Pek on Thursday. An army captain in Sulaiman Pek said snipers were hindering bomb disposal teams faced with dozens of explosive devices. "Our job is not easy, it's a guerrilla war," said Captain Falah Abdul-Ameer. "Snipers are a big issue now. We can't work out their exact location, they shoot and change places."
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |