Rocket kills senior Islamic State mufti in Salahuddin
Islamic State’s militants. File photo
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) A senior Islamic State mufti had been killed after a rocket was fired at his vehicle east of Salahuddin, a local source was quoted saying on Tuesday.
Alsumaria News quoted the source saying that Abu Hilal, 50, an Iraqi, was killed when a rocket, possibly fired by a drone, hit his vehicle in Mutaibija Basin, east of the province. The source said that two other companions were also killed in the strike.
Abu Huilal was the recently appointed mufti (religious legislator) with the Islamic State in Mutaibija. He had served as a subordinate mufti in Kirkuk but moved to Salahuddin a few months earlier.
Mutaibija has been one of Islamic State’s militancy hotspots over the past months.Islamic State militants have launched occasional attacks against security forces and civilians on Salahuddin’s borders with Diyala over the past few months, coinciding with government operations that managed to recapture the city of Mosul, Islamic State’s largest bastion in Iraq, early July.
Done with Mosul, the government and military commanders intend to wage further offensives at other IS havens across the country, including Salahuddin, seeking to mark an end to the self-proclaimed “caliphate” declared by the group back in 2014.
Violence and armed conflicts killed and wounded more than 500 Iraqis throughout July, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).