Army jets bombard camouflaged Islamic State camp in Anbar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army warplanes bombarded an Islamic State camp in Anbar’s desert on Monday as preparations continue to invade the group’s last havens in the province and Iraq, military media said.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said army jets detected a camouflaged Islamic State camp in the form of cracks made in the ground at the 160th kilometer region in the center of Anbar’s desert.

According to the WMC statement, 15 vehicles belonging to the group and ten oil barrels were destroyed in the raid.

Since Islamic State militants took over large areas of Iraq and Syria to estalbish a self-styled “caliphate” in 2014, Iraqi government forces, backed paramilitary troops and U.S.-led coalition, launched a wide-scale campaign to retake those regions.

So far, the offensives managed to retake Mosul, the group’s former capital, the town of Tal Afar, Kirkuk’s Hawija and Anbar’s Annah.

The only regions that currently remain under Islamic State’s territorial influence are Anbar’s towns of Rawa and Qaim. Reports are telling of running preparations for invading the two regions. If recaptured, that will mark a practical end to Islamic State’s control in Iraq.

Local authorities and human rights agencies believe Islamic State members are holding tens of thousands of civilians in western Anbar as future human shields, having killed hundreds for attempting to escape.