PMUs launch offensives to clear roads linking Mosul, Tikrit and Baghdad
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces. File photo.
A reporter for the PMU’s media service said three brigades from the units, backed by Federal Police personnel, launched an operation on Tuesday morning to secure 7 kilometers of the road between Baghdad and Mosul, which passes at the north and northeast of Salahuddin’s town of Shirqat.
The report said the move is designed to clear villages along that road which had previously been infiltrated by Islamic State militants sneaking from Hawija, Kirkuk. It added that the units recaptured the villages of jaber Huweidi, Hindi, Admana and Fayyad al-Thalj on the Tikrit-Mosul road.
Iraqi joint forces recaptured the whole of the eastern side of Mosul on Monday, and plan to move to the western side to battle IS militants out. The extremist group has stepped up bloody attacks in Salahuddin and Baghdad in recent weeks, a development which observers believe is aimed at making up for losses in Mosul and to distract security authorities.
Al-Hashd was formed from a coalition of Shia militias in 2014, and has been fighting Islamic State militants on the side of the Iraqi government since then. It gained government recognition as a national armed force late last year.