Over 100 houses still booby-trapped in western Anbar: Mayor
An Iraqi soldier looks out of the window of a house destroyed by an Islamic State (Reuters)
“There are more than 135 booby-trapped houses in sporadic regions in Rawa town,” Hussein Ali, the mayor, told AlSumaria News. “Efforts are still being made to detonate these houses at the lowest amount of losses.”
“Army troops managed to comb all the roads in Rawa and remove the explosives, facilitating the movements of citizens around the town,” he added.
On Sunday, Ali announced the launch of a wide-scale campaign to remove the signs of Islamic State in Rawa.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced, earlier this month, full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members.
In November, Abadi said his country has defeated Islamic State over the military level, but will declare final victory after desert areas are purged of militants. Earlier in the month, Iraqi forces recaptured Anbar’s western town of Rawa, the very last bastion under Islamic State control.
Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State occupied in 2014.
The war against IS has displaced nearly five million people, with tens of thousands of civilians and militants killed since the launch of the offensives to recapture occupied cities.