4 soldiers killed, 3 wounded in Islamic State attack west of Anbar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others were wounded on Sunday when Islamic State militants attacked an area recaptured recently by security forces west of Anbar province.

Nazem al-Jughiefi, an intelligence commander at al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in the town of Haditha, said IS militants attacked a security force securing al-Sakra region, which was recaptured on Saturday by security and tribal forces. He said four soldiers and four militants were killed in the attack.

He added that the forces also seized arms and vehicles used in the attack by the extremist group.

Islamic State militants have been holding locations west of Anbar, close the borders with Syria, since the group emerged to the scene in Iraq in 2014 to proclaim the establishment of a self-styled Islamic State across many regions of the country. Since then, it had launched occasional attacks on civilians and security in Anbar from those strongholds, with security forces, backed by fighter jets from a US-led military coalition, responding with recurrent airstrikes.

Last week, the Iraqi army command in Anbar announced a first security campaign backed by tribal militias to liberate the western regions of the province.

But most of attention is given to a battle running since October 2016 to retake Mosul, IS’s biggest stronghold in Iraq, the recapture of which would represent the strongest blow to the group’s existence in the country.