Four Iraqi servicemen killed, wounded in clashes with IS militants in Anbar
Security forces defend their headquarters against attacks by Islamic State during sand storm in Ramadi. (AP Photo)
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Four Iraqi army personnel were killed and wounded Sunday in clashes with members of the Islamic State militant group in Anbar province, a security source was quoted as saying.
“An army force clashed with militants of the Islamic State group in al-Husainiyat area, northeast of Ar-Rutbah, leaving an army officer killed and three others wounded,” the source told Alsumaria News.
The source added that the gun battle left heavy causalities among IS ranks as well.
A security force rushed to the site and carried the wounded into a nearby hospital for treatment, while the body was moved to the forensic medicine department, he pointed out.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq 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.