Iraqi militiamen foil Islamic State plot to infiltrate into Salahuddin
Saraya al-Salam forces.
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi Shiite militias announced on Sunday thwarting a plot by Islamic State militants to sneak into Samarra city in Salahuddin province.
In a statement carried by the privately-owned Baghdad Today news website, the Samarra Operations Command of the Shiite Saraya al-Salam brigades said that it “received intelligence information on a plot by IS terrorists to infiltrate into al-Adiyat, Zour Albu-Hammoud and Ain al-Helwa cities in Samarra on board a number of boats.”
The militiamen, according to the statement, opened fire at the IS terrorists and forced them to retreat.
Saraya al-Salam is an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq’s Shia community. It is a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army that was created by Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
The group was re-mobilized in 2014 in order to fight against the Islamic State and it is still active till now.
The Islamic State group appeared on the international scene in 2014 when it seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, declaring the establishment of an Islamic “caliphate” from Mosul city.
Later on, the group has become notorious for its brutality, including mass killings, abductions and beheadings, prompting the U.S. to lead an international coalition to destroy it