Islamic State vigilante office destroyed in coalition airstrike in Anbar
US fighter jets bombing ISIS headquarters in Iraq. File Photo
Anah (IraqiNews.com) United States-led coalition warplanes bombed Sunday an Islamic State office west of Anbar, an army source said was quoted saying.
Alsumaria News quoted the source within the army’s 7th division saying that coalition jets pounded the group’s so-called Hisbah (vigilantes) office in the town of Anah, west of Anbar and near the borders with Syria. A number of militants who happened to be inside were killed in the strike, according to the source.
Islamic State has held the towns of Anah, Rawa and Qaim since 2014, when they occupied a third of Iraq to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate”. So far, there has not been a wide-scale campaign to retake those regions, but occasional offensives managed to take over several surrounding villages.
The Iraqi government declared victory over IS in Mosul, the group’s former capital in Iraq, last month, and said it was going to proceed towards other group holdouts.
Also late July, Iraqi warplanes reportedly dropped millions of messages telling locals that liberation offensives for the province were nearing.
Security forces were put on alert recently having received intelligence information that IS was preparing for massive attacks on troops in Anbar.