Iraqi troops destroy three Islamic State hideouts in Diyala
Islamic State militants
Diyala (Iraqinews.com) – As part of ongoing security efforts to completely eliminate terrorism across Iraq, Iraqi troops destroyed on Thursday three hotbeds of the Islamic State (IS) group in Diyala governorate.
In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Alghad Press, Diyala police said, “A joint police force carried out a security campaign in three villages in northeastern Diyala to hunt for Islamic State militants and destroy their shelters.”
“The troops managed to destroy three terrorist hideouts during the operation,” the statement read.
On Wednesday, Iraqi security forces killed a senior IS leader along with seven of his aides in a wide-scale military operation in Diyala.
Abu Nabil al-Iraqi, according to media reports, was in charge of “providing the militant group with financial and logistic support to target security forces in the governorate.”
In January 2015, Iraqi forces announced liberation of Diyala province from Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and IS militants especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December with the help of a US-led alliance, having retaken all the territory captured by the extremists in 2014 and 2015.
Isolated cells believed to be linked to the Islamic State group remain active in some parts of the country. In recent weeks, suspected Islamic State insurgents have carried out several attacks targeting security forces across the nation.