Warplanes kill family in Anbar, Islamic State execute 2 soldiers

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Unidentified warplanes killed seven people of the same family in western Anbar, while Islamic State executed two security informants on Thursday.

London-based Alquds Alarabi quoted a military source saying that unidentified warplanes bombarded a house in the town of Rawa, an Islamic State stronghold west of Anbar, killing a family of seven, mainly children.

The paper quoted the same source saying that Islamic State militants executed two casual army members by a firing squad. He said the pair had been kidnapped a few days earlier from the town of Qaim, near the borders with Syria. The militants accused both of espionage by providing Iraqi air forces with information about militants’ locations.

Islamic State militants have held Anbar’s western towns of Annah, Rawa and Qaim since 2014, when they proclaimed a self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. The Iraqi government is planning a military offensive to retake those regions.

Local officials say there are thousands of civilians stranded inside IS havens, with the militants possibly using them as future human shields. Many have been shot trying to flee the militant’s grip.

Since Iraqi government troops launched a campaign to retake IS havens in 2016, they have managed to retake Mosul, the group’s former capital, and the town of Tal Afar, a major stronghold west of Mosul.