Iraq air strikes kill nine suspects in deadly attack by IS

Iraq air strikes kill 9 suspects in lethal assault by IS

Iraqi air strikes on Saturday killed 9 suspected “terrorists” implicated in a lethal Islamic State group assault on a military base earlier this month, the army mentioned.

The January 21 assault, which killed 11 troopers in Hawi al-Azim within the jap province of Diyala, was the deadliest claimed by the jihadists in Iraq this 12 months, stories AFP.

In a press release launched late Saturday, the army mentioned it had “recognized the precise whereabouts in Hawi al-Azim of the terrorist group which perpetrated this prison act”.

“Three precision strikes by Iraqi F-16s have up to now killed 9 terrorist parts,” the assertion mentioned, including that the mission was nonetheless underway.

IS overran giant swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, declaring a brand new “caliphate” for Muslims, earlier than Baghdad declared victory in late 2017 after a grinding marketing campaign.

However a low-level insurgency by the jihadists has continued, flaring up notably in rural areas north of Baghdad across the metropolis of Kirkuk, and within the jap provinces of Diyala and Salaheddin.

The bottom assault coincided with a brazen jail break try over the border in Syria that has triggered days of clashes between IS fighters and Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition troops and plane.

The preventing in and round Ghwayran jail within the northeastern metropolis of Hasakeh has killed not less than 270 folks, together with round 189 jihadists, 74 Kurdish-led fighters and 7 civilians, in line with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.