Islamic State member wounded as son kills himself playing with grenade

Shirqat (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State member was wounded and his child was killed when a grenade the latter was playing with exploded, a local source in Salahuddin province said on Wednesday.

The source told Alsumaria News that the IS member, who belonged to the group’s so-called “soldiers bureau”, was badly wounded while his seven-year-old child died while playing with a grenade at their home in Shirqat, north of Salahuddin.

The source pointed that most of IS members keep weapons inside their homes in that region.

Dozens of IS members have died over the past months while planting explosives at different havens in Salahuddin and other provinces.

Islamic State has been in control over the eastern side of Shirqat since 2014. The group has recently stepped up attacks across Iraqi provinces, and an increasing activity on the group’s behalf has been detected at Salahuddin’s borders with neighboring provinces.

The Iraqi government, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, is expected to move towards clearing IS pockets across Iraq once its eight-month-old campaign against the group in Mosul, the militants’ largest stronghold in Iraq. finishes. The fall of Mosul could mean a collapse of the group’s self-styled “Islamic Caliphate” declared in 2014.