Iraqi security seize Islamic State arms depot in Anbar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi security forces seized on Tuesday an arms depot of Islamic State terrorist group in al-Qa’im district in the western province of Anbar.

“A huge cache of home-made explosives charge and mortar shells were found inside the depot,” Almaalomah news website quoted the Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate as saying in a press statement.

“All the explosive charges were detonated at the scene by specialized troops,” the statement read, adding that the ammunition was left by IS militants after their defeat at the hands of the Iraqi army in 2017.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.