Iraqi Defense Ministry mourns soldiers killed in ISIS attack
Iraqi soldiers on duty. Photo: INA
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Defense issued a statement on Monday in which it mourned Colonel Khaled Naji Wassak and other Iraqi soldiers who were defending themselves against a terrorist attack launched by ISIS terrorists.
Security sources said that an officer and four Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others were injured on Monday in an attack launched by ISIS militants on an army post in eastern Iraq.
The attack took place in a rural area between Diyala and Salah Al-Din governorates, where some ISIS terrorists are still active.
After the terrorist organization took control of large areas in Syria and Iraq in 2014, ISIS suffered successive defeats in the two countries before losing all of its territory in 2019.
Iraq declared its victory over ISIS in late 2017, but the terrorist organization continues to have some members in the country’s remote areas, where they sometimes assault security personnel.
The Global Coalition against Daesh (ISIS) reported a decline in attacks in Iraq and Syria during the first quarter of 2023, when terrorists were still active despite their defeat.
Compared to the same period in 2022, ISIS assaults in Iraq decreased by 68 percent between the beginning of 2023 and the first week of April 2023.
According to a United Nations assessment from February 2023, ISIS still maintains 5,000 to 7,000 members and supporters in neighboring Syria and Iraq, roughly half of whom are fighters.