Iraqi militia officer wounded in bombing in Fallujah
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – The Leadership of al-Hashd al-Shaabi announced on Tuesday that the Media Officer of al-Hashd al-Shaabi Captain Essam al-Din Abullah was injured in a bomb blast at central Fallujah.
The commander of al-Karma brigade in Anbar Province, Colonel Jumaa al-Jumaili, in a press statement, a copy of which was obtained by Iraqi News, said, “An explosive device exploded at noon today while a search operation at the residential areas was in full swing at central Fallujah. Media Officer of al-Hashd al-Shaabi Captain Essam al-Din Abullah received several injuries in the blast.”
Jumaili added, “ISIS have planted hundreds of IEDs at every street, residential areas and houses, as well as booby-trapping garbage baskets, gas containers and electricity poles.”
Iraqi forces capture bridge in al-Jumhoriyah in Fallujah
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Tuesday, Federal Police Command announced liberating al-Jumhoriyah area and the old bridge in Fallujah City (62 km west of Baghdad), while further informaing about the killing of tens of ISIS members and destruction of three booby-trapped vehicles during the operation.
Federal Police Chief Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat in a statement issued to the media,which is also received by Iraqi News, said, “The security forces, at noon today, managed to liberate al-Jumhoriyah neighborhood in central Fallujah and the old bridge of Fallujah in western the city, after fierce battles resulting in the killing of dozens of ISIS members and the destruction of three (3) booby-trapped vehicles.”
Jawdat added, “The operations are still going on to liberate the remaining areas of Fallujah, including al-Jolan neighborhood, 7 April and Bazara, in addition to freeing the popular market and eliminating ISIS cells.”
Iraqi forces capture in Hayy Al-Shurtta neighborhood Fallujah
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – A source in Fallujah Operations Command revealed on Tuesday that the Anti-Terrorism forces managed to liberate Hayy Al-Shurtta neighborhood in northern Fallujah.
According to information obtained by Iraqi News, it was stated, “Today the Anti-Terrorism forces managed to completely free Hayy Al-Shurtta neighborhood in northern Fallujah and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings after killing many ISIS members and detonating two booby-trapped vehicles.”
The information added, “The Anti-Terrorism troops had achieved its specified targets in the northern side of the city of Fallujah.”
Iraqi army officer dies in sniper attack in Zankoura
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Anbar announced on Tuesday that the commander of the army’s First Commando Regiment was killed by an ISIS sniper during the military operations at Zankoura, north of Ramadi.
According to information shared by the source, which was also received by Iraqi News, it was stated, “An ISIS sniper fired at the squad commander of the [army’s] First Commando Regiment of Anbar Operations Command, Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Abdul-Reda, during the advance of the security forces in the operations to liberate Zankoura, north of Ramadi. He died on the spot immediately.”
The information further added, “Security forces continue with their [military] operations to free Zankoura and Albu Risha, north of Ramadi, from ISIS control. The forces established security fortifications at the sites and places which have been liberated in Zankoura.”
300 Kurd prisoners released as ISIS gets the hell outta Dodge
[ARA News] DUHOK – Subsequent to the withdrawal of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) from major parts of Fallujah city, Iraqi forces announced the release of hundreds of Yezidi Kurds who had been taken by ISIS as hostages two years ago.
Activists confirmed the release of 354 Yezidi girls from ISIS detention in Fallujah.
“The freed girls had been taken as sex slaves by ISIS jihadis,” Yezidi rights activist Kelesh Shingali told ARA News. “They are now under the protection of the government forces and they’ll soon be transferred to the Kurdistan Region.”
“The release of those girls was a great accomplishment, especially after they suffered brutal practices and sexual abuse by ISIS barbarians,” he said.
“The entire Yezidi community is happy for the freedom of those girls, and we are looking forward to the release of the rest of Yezidi women held by ISIS,” Shingali told ARA News.
In August 2014, ISIS radicals took over the Yezidi region of Shingle (Sinjar) in northern Iraq, causing a mass displacement of nearly 400,000 people to Duhok and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Tens of thousands of Yezidis remained trapped in Mount Sinjar, suffering mass killings, kidnappings and rape cases, according to local and military sources. Also, more than 3000 Yezidi girls have been taken by the radical group as sex slaves.
On November 13, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition forces, announced the liberation of the entire Yezidi district of Shingal in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh after fierce battles with ISIS extremists. The Kurdish forces have recently discovered more than five mass graves in the Yezidi region, where hundreds of Yezidi civilians have been summarily executed and buried by ISIS jihadis. Yet, thousands of Yezidi women remain in ISIS captivity after being sold as sex slaves across the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria.
Human Rights Watch called on ISIS to urgently release Yezidi women and girls abducted since 2014. “The longer they are held by ISIS, the more horrific life becomes for Yezidi women, bought and sold, brutally raped, their children torn from them,” said Skye Wheeler, women’s rights emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Many of the abuses, including torture, sexual slavery, and arbitrary detention, would be war crimes if committed in the context of the armed conflict, or crimes against humanity if they were part of ISIS policy during a systematic or widespread attack on the civilian population,” the HRW said. “The abuses against Yezidi women and girls documented by Human Rights Watch, including the practice of abducting women and girls and forcibly converting them to Islam and/or forcibly marrying them to ISIS members, may be part of a genocide against Yezidis.”