News / Iraq

Iraqi troops kill senior Daesh commander, capture 17 others near Mosul

Monday, 07 January 2019 1:46 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 January 2019 3:48 PM ]

Members of the Nineveh Plain Protection Units stand guard at the entrance of the Church of Saint John in the predominantly Christian Iraqi town of Qaraqosh in Nineveh province, December 23, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi security forces have killed a high-ranking commander of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and detained more than a dozen other terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation in the country’s northern province of Nineveh as government troops and allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units are trying to purge the Arab country of the last remnants of the terror outfit.

“Troops from the Nineveh Operations Command launched a major security campaign in Badush district, northeast of Mosul, and managed to kill a senior Daesh leader,” Provincial police officer Major Azad Fouad told Arabic-language Dijlah television network on Sunday.

“The troops also arrested 17 Daesh militants,” Fouad said, adding that a large amount of munitions and firearms were seized from the Takfiris as well.

The development occurred a day after fighters from Popular Mobilization Units – commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi – and soldiers from the Salahuddin Operations Command launched joint operations in 30 villages of Iraq’s north-central province of Salahuddin, destroying three militant hideouts as well as two underground tunnels used by Daesh members.

Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency, citing an unnamed Hashd al-Sha’abi source, reported that the fighters also detonated 70 explosive devices in the process. Two Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters were injured after they entered a booby-trapped house.

An Iraqi soldier sits atop a military vehicle in central Baghdad's Tahrir square, during celebrations marking the founding of the Iraqi army on January 6, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Former Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, he had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

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

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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Iraq Middle East Mosul Salahuddin Iraqi forces Nineveh Iraqi army Popular Mobilization forces Daesh Daesh militants Daesh Takfiri group Hashd al-Shaabi