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Iraqi security forces kill five Daesh commanders in oil-rich Kirkuk province

Members of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) take part in a training drill at the Special Forces Academy near Baghdad's international airport on March 19, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Members of the Iraqi federal police have carried out a counter-terrorism operation in the oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk, killing four high-profile commanders of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the process.

The security forces, following a tip-off from pro-government fighters from Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi, staged an ambush on a militant hideout in the village of Karhakazan late on Monday, and killed the terrorists.

The slain Takfiris were later identified as Adnan Ahmed Hassan al-Sour, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Rizwan, who was a senior militant commander in the Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk, Shaker Shallal Ousebi, commonly known as Abu Haifa, who was responsible for Daesh medical affairs, Abu Talha, Abu Haitham and Hassan Ali Thalaj, better known by the alias Abu Dhar.

Abu Rizwan was apparently one of the main organizers of Daesh surprise attack on Hashd al-Sha’abi forces in Saadounia village, western Hawija, on February 18, when 21 voluntary fighters were killed.

Separately, security forces have uncovered a huge cache of munitions belonging to Daesh extremists in the oil-rich city of Baiji, located some 130 miles north of Baghdad.

On December 9, 2017, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against the Daesh terrorist group in the Arab country.

“Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh,” Abadi told a conference in Baghdad then.

On July 10, Abadi formally declared victory over Daesh extremists in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in the conflict-ridden Arab country.

In the run-up to Mosul's liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

The Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.


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