Iraqi troops kill member of Shia militias during clashes in Karbala
Karbala (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi troops have killed a member of the Shia militias Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades) in Karbala city, a security source said on Saturday.
A police patrol stormed into a house of a member of the brigades in al-Ghadeer district in Karbala, the source told BasNews website. Armed clashes occurred between the patrol personnel and the member who refused to turn in himself, leaving him killed.
News reports said on Friday that two persons were killed, while six others were wounded in a suicide attack that was launched against the brigades in al-Howeish region, northwest of Samarra.
Last week, Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadrist Movement, announced disbanding the brigades, urging the members to evacuate its headquarters and turn in their weapons to the government. He noted that the members in Samarra will remain to guard Al-Askari Shrine.
The brigades took part in the summer of 2014 in liberation of regions in south of Salahuddin and others in Samarra and areas in its vicinity.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
A total of 117 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 264 injured, excluding police, in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in November, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).