UPDATED: Islamic State suicide bombers killed 6 employees at Samarra power station
Members of the Islamic State group. File photo.
Samarra (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State suicide bombers killed six employees at an electricity station in Salahuddin, the Iraqi ministry of electricity said on Saturday.
Four Islamic State suicide attackers sneaked into a power station on Samarra, with security killing one while three others blew up themselves at various sections of the station, leaving six employees dead, according to the ministry’s statement.
Earlier, security sources were quoted saying Iraqi troops, backed by paramilitary forces, killed seven Islamic State militants who besieged employees inside the power station Galisiyah, east of Samarra but did not made mention of casualties among employees.
Islamic State fighters have stepped attacks against civilians and security forces in Salahuddin and other provinces coinciding with Iraqi government campaigns to retake the group’s holdouts since 2014, when the militants proclaimed a “caliphate” rule in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Violence and armed conflicts left 116 Iraqi civilians dead throughout August, according to a monthly casualty count conducted by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
The Islamic State is currently struggling to defend its remaining havens in Kirkuk, Anbar and Salahuddin. Since October, the group lost Mosul, its formerly proclaimed capital, and Tal Afar, west of Mosul.