Three Islamic State militants killed, attack foiled in Salahuddin
Members of the Islamic State group. File photo.
Salahuddin/Diyala (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi troops and tribal fighters killed three Islamic State members in a raid and foiled another attack by the militants in Salahuddin province on Tuesday.
The Iraqi military intelligence directorate said in a statement, quoted by Shafaq News, said intelligence services in Salahuddin, backed by Popular Mobilization Forces and Tribal Mobilization chased four IS members in an island at the center of the Tigris River.
Forces engaged with the militants at the town of Shirqat, killing three, while the fourth blew himself up.
In a separate incident, Alsumaria News quoted Abdul-Khaleq al-Ezzawi, a member of Diyala province council, saying that a joint security force foiled a sneaking attempt by IS members inside Al-Bou Essia village, on the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin.
He said the force chased the militants, some of whom escaped to Mutaibiha region, a former IS militancy hotbed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared Saturday the end of Islamic State existence in Iraq by imposing full control over the borders with Syria, closing the last chapter of a three-year war against the militant group which proclaimed a “caliphate” rule in the country in 2014.
But some commentators warn that some IS sleeper cells might remain in the country and pose a future security threat.