Suicide attacker killed before blowing himself up in north of Salahuddin
Iraqi security forces detain a boy after removing a suicide vest from him in Kirkuk in Iraq. Archival photo. Reuters.
“Police at the eastern side of Shirqat managed to kill a suicide bomber in Asdira village before he blows himself up near a police station. No casualties were reported,” Maj. Gen. Saad Maan, Interior Ministry’s spokesperson, said in a statement on Saturday.
On Thursday, Maan said Federal Police troops accomplished purging of the eastern coast of Shirqat from IS remnants and sleeper cells, inflicting huge losses in lives and equipments on the enemy. 52 militants were killed.
Federal Police announced, last week, liberation of eastern Shirqat, the group’s holdout in north of Salahuddin.
225 militants had been killed since the launch of operations in Shirqat, Jawdat previously announced.
Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and the Joint Operations Command announced launch of first phase of operations to liberate Hawija and western Shirqat.
The Iraqi army said in September its forces recaptured the western coast of Shirqat, located south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river, after being surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and the pro-government Shi’ite militias.