Police, PMUs recapture village in northeast Salahuddin from IS
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Salahuddin.
A statement by al-Hashd’s media service said police and PMUs recaptured al-Hleiwat village and a distance from the village to a local railroad west of al-Zab region. Northeast of Salahuddin.
The statement said the forces defused 15 IEDs, nine landmines and two booby-trapped vehicles.
Al-Hashd launched an offensive in Salahuddin last week aimed at securing roads linking the city of Tikrit to Mosul. It claimed to have liberated some areas and killing several militants since then.
PMUs, an alliance of tens of Shia paramilitary troops, were formed in 2014 in line with an edict by Iraq’s top Shia clergy to combat Islamic State extremists. They have been actively engaged in the Iraqi government’s campaign to drive the extremist group out of the country since then.
Since their emergence in 2014 to establish a self-styled “Islamic State” in Iraq, Islamic State militants have been holding several Iraqi towns, including regions in southwestern Kirkuk.
The group has been sustaining serious defeats to Iraqi government forces since the government launched a major campaign to retake Mosul in October. Some sources have said that the government is awaiting for the full recapture of Mosul before embarking on similar security campaigns to attack the group’s remaining pockets in other provinces like Kirkuk, Anbar and Salahuddin.