Daesh leader to reshuffle commanders in Ramadi

The leader of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Iraq has reportedly decided to replace foreign and Arab commanders operating in Ramadi with those who are originally from the militant-held city.

The terror group's leader, Ibrahim al-Samarrai, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thinks that by doing so he can lessen the risk they may surrender to the Iraqi army, the Iraqi News online newspaper reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed security source in the western province of Anbar.

The replacement decision has been made as Iraqi government forces and volunteer groups are tightening the noose on the city and are said to be on the verge of liberating it from the terror group.

Daesh captured Ramadi five months ago, which the United States blamed on lack of sufficient contribution from the Iraqi troops to counter the progress of the Takfiri group, an accusation dismissed by Baghdad.

On Saturday, the Iraqi air force managed to kill the intelligence director of Daesh in an airborne strike when he was returning from the Syrian key city of al-Ragga to the Iraqi area of al-Safra in Hawija, the Daesh stronghold in the Kirkuk region, along with scores of other militants who were present in a hideout, Iraqi News further reported.

Late on Friday, as many as 35 Daesh terrorists, including three senior leaders, were also slain in aerial strikes in Hawija.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence since Daesh terrorists began their campaign of terror in the country in June 2014.

According to the United Nations, more than 21,000 Iraqis have lost their lives or sustained injuries due to the acts of violence and terrorism in the embattled Arab country since the beginning of the year.

In a statement released on Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq Fadel Ghraoui pointed to the dramatic rise in the number of Daesh operations against the Iraqi people, noting that a total of 6,238 Iraqis were killed and another 14,933 injured between January 1 and October 1, 2015.

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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