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Baghdad

Four army soldiers killed in Islamic State attack west of Anbar

 Four army soldiers killed in Islamic State attack west of Anbar

Islamic State fighters on pickup trucks in Anbar, west of Iraq.

Islamic State fighters on pickup trucks in Anbar, west of Iraq.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Four army personnel were killed on Friday when Islamic State militants attacked their patrol west of Anbar.

A security source told AlJournal news website that the attack on the “180th Kilo” region on the highway between the towns of Ramadi and Rutba, a location which the source said needed an enhanced military deployment to track militants situated at desert areas.

Earlier on Friday, the defense ministry said major Islamic State training camp had been discovered in western Anbar during brief Iraqi army operations targeting the extremist group’s strongholds.

The camp was discovered during operations to recapture al-Sakra and al-Zawiya regions west of the province, said the statement, which revealed that all the contents of that facility were set to fire by Iraqi troops.

The statement added that most of Islamic State attacks at the province’s town of Haditha launched from that camp which, it said, was located in a rugged terrain. It added that the forces had managed to erect barracks to protect the area from any attack.

Preparations are underway for next operations targeting Islamic State hideouts in Annah and Rawa, according to the statement.

The Iraqi army command in Anbar declared on the 5th of January the start of operations to retake western Anbar regions, close to the borders with Syria, from militants. The operations lasted for a few days, recapturing a few villages, before halting again. Observes see confusion regarding readiness to launch operations in the province, pointing out to the fact that the start of the security offensive was not officially declared by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as was the case with Mosul, where government forces have entered a third month of battles with the group.

Security sources said a week earlier that the government had decided to halt battles in Anbar until the end of operations in Mosul. The replacement of the army’s operations commander in Anbar, Ismail al-Mahallawi, cast more doubts on the reason behind the halt.

U.S. and Iraqi fighter jets, however, have carried out occasional airstrikes on Islamic State locations in western Anbar.

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