Two Islamic State arms depots found in Anbar province

Anbar (Iraqinews.com) Two Islamic State arms depots have been found in eastern Anbar, the military intelligence said on Monday.

“The two arms depots have been found at al-Subhayat and Nuaimiya areas east of Anbar, with 143 bombs available there,” the Iraqi Directorate of General Military Intelligence said in a statement, quoted by Alghad Press.

The explosive charges were meant to target Iraqi civilians and security men at Subhayat and Nuaimiya areas, the statement read.

Iraqi troops are determined to pursuit IS sleeper cells and destroy all their arms depots and hideouts throughout the country, the statement added.

On Sunday, seventeen Islamic State militants were killed in an airstrike on a secret tunnel used by Islamic State at Wadi al-Qathf area west of Anbar.

“The casualties included foreign IS militants,” a leader in al-Hashd al-Shaabi told Arabs Today, adding that the aerial bombardment left a large cache of weapons and ammunition destroyed.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq 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 the US-led international coalition, 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.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq’s territory.