Army downs IS-guided reconnaissance drone in western Anbar

Rutba (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army forces in anbar province said Tuesday they downed a drone guided by Islamic State militants at the group-held western area.

Alsumaria News quoted sources from the army’s 1st division saying that a sniper shot down the drone at the town of Rutba (310 km west of Ramadi).

The drone was carrying a camera for reconnaissance purposes, according to the sources.

Islamic State fighters have relied on drones in many attacks that killed a number of civilians and security members since a security campaign was launched against the group in October.

The incident comes hours after paramilitary forces fighting the extremist group alongside the government warned that IS was preparing for a suicide attack on the town.

IS is mobilizing fighters near Rutba, preparing for a suicide offensive against the town, said Qutri al-Obeidi, a commander at the local popular mobilization forces in Anbar.

“Security leaderships had informed the army’s air force command of the activity,” said Obeidi, adding that field commanders were closely monitoring IS’s movements.

Islamic State has maintained control over the towns of Annah, Rawa and Qaim, weswt of Anbar, since the group emerged in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled ‘Islamic Caliphate”.

There has not been an officially-declared military campaign to free IS-held regions west of Anbar, but the province’s military command launched a brief assault early January that managed to recapture some western villages before stopping again. Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the allied U.S.-led coalition have also regularly pounded IS locations in the province.

Local officials believe Islamic State is holding thousands in those regions to use them as human shields against any future security offensive.

The Iraqi government is expected to aim at IS havens in Anbar once it is finished with eliminating the group from Mosul, its biggest bastion in Iraq.