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Iraqi air force hits Daesh in Ramadi

Wednesday, 06 January 2016 11:01 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 06 January 2016 11:01 AM ]

Iraqi government forces flash the V-sign as they advance down a street in their effort to secure all the neighborhoods of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar Province, on January 4, 2016. ©AFP

The Iraqi air force has dealt a heavy blow to the remaining pockets of Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the central city of Ramadi.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi aircraft repelled a Daesh attack on the army’s ground troops, killing 16 of the terrorists, including all their bombers, Iraqi satellite channel Alsumaria News reported.

According to Army General Ismail al-Mahlawi, four bomb-laden Daesh vehicles were also destroyed during the counteroffensive.

Ramadi, which is the capital of the country’s sprawling Anbar Province, fell to Daesh back in May 2015. Iraqi military and volunteer forces liberated the city late last year. It, however, remains to be cleansed of the remnants of terror group, which has been ravaging Iraq since June 2014.

Iraqi security and volunteer forces also conducted an anti-terrorist operation northeast of provincial capital Baqubah in the nearby Diyala Province.

According to Diyala police commander, Brigadier General Jassim al-Saadi, the operation led to the discovery of a Daesh hideout as well as a massive cache of explosives belonging to the group and booby traps laid by it.

On December 22, 2015, IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly published the results of a study that said Daesh terrorists had in a year lost nearly 15 percent of the land that they had under control in Iraq and Syria as the group suffers more setbacks in the two countries.

The study showed that Daesh had lost control over more than 13,000 square kilometers of the territory it controlled in the two Arab countries since January.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed to rid the entire Iraq of Daesh in 2016.

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