Three IS militants, including senior leader, killed in Iraq’s Diyala
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) – Three Islamic State militants, including a senior leader, were killed Wednesday during a security operation in northeastern Diyala.
“Security forces launched a security operation, under the directives of Diyala Police Chief Maj. Gen. Faisal al-Abadi, to pursue Islamic State cells near Qarah Tabbah district in northeastern Diyala,” Mawazin News quoted Spokesman for Diyala Police Colonel Ghalib al Attiya as saying.
The spokesman noted that the operation “resulted in killing three Islamic State militants, including a senior leader.”
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November 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.