Islamic State finds corpse of disappeared Salahuddin military commander
The body of a dead ISIS fighter in Iraq.
A local source in the province told Alsumaria News that the group found the body of its “military emir” of Mutaibija and four aides who mysteriously vanished a day earlier. It found their vehicle had apparently turned over on a country road at the borders with Diyala province, the source revealed
Mutaibija is one restive region on the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin, but the source said IS had lost many of its leaders in that region in ambushes by security forces and allied al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units).
Since the Iraqi government launched a U.S.-backed offensive in mid October to retake Mosul from Islamic State, the extremist group has sustained severe losses in personnel and ground. It has also been ravaged with divisions and infighting, with reports of attempted dissent and executions of delinquent fighters growing. Some of its leaders were also mysteriously assassinated.
IS is currently clinging to western Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq which the Iraqi government hopes to recapture to deal the most fatal blow to the group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”.