Iraqi troops kill 2 Islamic State militants in Nineveh
A Shi’ite volunteer wearing a mask, who has joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), looks on during a parade on a street in Kanaan, Diyala province, June 26, 2014.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – Two Islamic State militants were killed Wednesday during a counter-terrorism operation in the northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi Security Media Cell said.
The two terrorists were gunned down by a force of the 75th brigade of Nineveh Operations Command in Hawi Aslan island in the Tigris River, Step Press Agency quoted the cell as saying in a press statement.
The troops also arrested two IS militants in the operation, added the statement.
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.