Paramilitary forces kill two Islamic State militants in Iraq’s Samarra
A Shi’ite volunteer wearing a mask, who has joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), looks on during a parade on a street in Kanaan, Diyala province, June 26, 2014.
Samarra (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi paramilitary forces killed on Sunday two Islamic State militants and wounded three others during a security operation in northern Samarra.
“A security force from the 313th brigade of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) targeted terrorist hotbeds of Islamic State group at the village of Khorasan in Mutaibija, north of Samarra, today, killing two terrorists and wounding three others,” Almaalomah news website quoted the media office of al-Hashd al-Shaabi as saying in a statement.
“The troops also destroyed two hotbeds, where the Islamic State militants were hiding,” the statement read, adding that the security operation is still ongoing to purge the whole region from IS militants.
Popular Mobilization Forces, an alliance of volunteer Shia paramilitary forces, have actively backed the Iraqi government’s military campaign against IS since 2014, when they were formed upon a top Shia clergy edict to counter the Sunni Jihadist group.
PMF won official recognition as a national force late 2016, becoming under the command of the prime minister, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces.