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IRAQ-IS-KILLING
IS leader, 5 aides killed by security forces in Iraq
TIKRIT, Iraq, June 24, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – Iraqi security forces on Sunday
killed a leader of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group and five of his
aides in an operation in Iraq’s central province of Salahudin, the Iraqi
military said.
Acting on intelligence reports, the security forces raided an IS hideout at
the desert near the town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital
Baghdad, and killed Abu Islam al-Iraqi, a prominent provincial IS leader, and
five militants, Salahudin provincial operations command said in a statement.
Abu Islam al-Iraqi was believed to be the mastermind of bombings and
abductions at fake checkpoints against Iraqi civilians and security members,
the statement said.
During the past few months, hundreds of IS militants fled their former
urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin Province and Hawijah area in the west
of Kirkuk, after Iraqi forces cleared these regions during major anti-IS
offensives.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared
full liberation of Iraq from the IS after Iraqi forces recaptured all the
areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, small groups and individuals of IS militants have since regrouped
in rugged areas including Himreen, carrying out attacks against security
forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
BSS/XINHUA/FI/ 1448 hrs