Islamic State drone-maker killed flying weaponized device in Hawija

Hawija (IraqiNews.com)  Islamic State’s member responsible for flying drones was killed in an explosion on Sunday at the town of Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, as government troops advance to retake the town.

The so-nicknamed “al-Mulla” was killed in an explosion of  a weaponized drone while trying to fly it on the outskirts of Hawija, said a local source to Alsumaria News. 

Islamic State has been relying on bomb-laden drones both reconnaissance and for attacking security troops over the past few years.

Earlier on Sunday, military media said Iraqi forces and allied paramilitary troops had retaken 28 villages as part of operations to recapture Hawija.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell, quoting the Joint Operations Command, said forces advancing from the south and the east of the city have converged.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and military commanders declared on Friday the launch of a second phase of offensives to retake the town held by IS since 2014, saying that hundreds of militants were killed on the first few days of the offensive.

The first phase of operations ended a week ago.

So far, operations targeting Hawija managed to retake the town of Shirqat, an IS stronghold in neighboring Salahuddin, and dozens of surrounding villages.

Parallel operations were launched late September targeting IS havens in western Anbar.

A wide-scale campaign launched with the backing of a U.S.-led coalition in 2016 to recapture areas occupied by IS since 2014, when the militants declared a self-styled “caliphate” rule in Iraq and neighboring Syria based in Iraq’s Mosul.

Iraqi government, coalition and paramilitary forces recaptured Mosul, the group’s former capital, and the neighboring town of Tal Afar early July and late August.