Iraqi troops kill senior Islamic State leader, seven aides in Diyala

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi security forces launched on Wednesday a military operation to hunt for dormant Islamic State (IS) militants in Diyala governorate, managing to kill a senior leader along with seven of his aides, security sources were quoted as saying.

“Acting upon accurate intelligence reports, Iraqi troops killed Abu Nabil al-Iraqi, the mastermind of several terrorist attacks launched by Islamic State, and seven of his aides in a military operation in northeastern Diyala,” Shafaq News quoted the sources as saying.

Al-Iraqi, according to the sources, was in charge of “providing the militant group with financial and logistic support to target security forces in Diyala.”

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.