Paramilitary troops repel Islamic State attack, kill militants in Salahuddin
Forces from al-Hashd al-Shaabi.
Speaking to Almaalomah website, the source said “troops of al-Hashd al-Shaabi managed to repel an attack by IS members coming from the western desert toward Biji.”
The vehicles used in the attack, was “were all destroyed,” the source said adding that “troops killed all the militants.”
Thousands of Islamic State militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
In December, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced gaining control on all the territories that were captured by Islamic State, since 2014. However, the group still has dormant cells, through which it carries out attacks, across Iraq like it used to do before 2014.
As many as 3,298 civilians were killed and 4,781 others were wounded in 2017, excluding Anbar civilian casualty figures for November and December, which are not available, UNAMI said in a report in December.
The war against IS has displaced at least five million people.