Islamic State senior leader killed in Salahuddin
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Salahuddin.
“Security troops were able to kill deputy emir of the so-called Salahuddin State, Abu Natheer al-Muhajir, after blowing up the tunnel, where he was hiding at in Jazeerat Salahuddin region,” the source told Baghdad Today website.
The media service of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) said troops managed to gain control, on Friday, on headquarters of the group’s leadership in the depth of the desert as well as a booby-trapping workshop.Twenty-one Islamic State members, including Arab and foreign militants, were killed, while twenty villages were liberated. IS members escaped their locations toward the desert depth of desert in Mosul, Salahuddin and Anbar.
PMF media said Thursday the forces had cleared 55 villages in al-Jazirah.
The Upper Euphrates and al-Jazeera Combing Operations, previously announced that joint troops started a wide-scale operation to liberate al-Jazeera regions located between Salahuddin, Nineveh and Anbar.
Joint troops had managed to free several residential areas in Anbar, Salahuddin, Diyala and Kirkuk from Islamic State, which urged the militants to escape toward Al-Jazeera regions in those provinces.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said during his weekly press briefing on Tuesday that his country has defeated Islamic State over the military level, but will declare final victory after desert areas are purged of militants.