Six IS members killed, 14 others arrested in Kirkuk: Commander
Security forces arrest a terrorist.
“Iraqi troops managed to kill six militants after following them. Three of them were in al-Batma village, while others were in al-Jadaa villages in Hawija, west of Kirkuk,” Maj. Gen. Ali Fadel Omran, commander of Kirkuk Operations, told AlSumaria News on Monday. “ A weapon stash including huge amount of weapons and explosives for Islamic State member was seized.”
“Troops also arrested other 14 IS members in al-Multaqa town.” Omran said. “Military units are continuing efforts of combing and securing the oil pipeline stretching between K-1 reaching to al-Fatha region. So far, 152 bombs were defused.”
On Friday, troops, according to Omran, “launched wide-scale campaigns to comb regions in east of Hawija and Hamreen mountains.”
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.
Operations were launched in late September to liberate Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, before Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced freeing the town in October.
Iraqi troops managed to retake several Islamic State strongholds including Mosul and Tal Afar in Nineveh, Hawija in Kirkuk and Annah and Qaim in Anbar.