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| Iraq |
| Bomber kills 26 anti-IS fighters in Iraq |
| 2014-12-24 |
| [TIMESOFOMAN] A jacket wallah attacked Sunni fighters opposed to the IS group as they gathered on Wednesday to receive salaries south of Baghdad, killing at least 26 people, officials said. The attack on the fighters, known as Sahwa, near a military base in the Madain area also maimed at least 56 people. It was unclear how many of the victims were Sahwa fighters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide kabooms are a tactic almost exclusively employed by IS spearheaded a sweeping bad boy offensive that has overrun much of Iraq's heartland since June -- areas that government forces have sought local people help to retake. The Sahwa, or "Awakening" in Arabic, dates back to the height of the US-led war in Iraq, when rustics joined forces with the Americans to battle The Sahwa were key to sharply but temporarily reducing violence, but when Iraq's government took over responsibility for their salaries they were sometimes paid late or not at all. Now fighters, including the Sahwa and other armed rustics, again have an important role to play in the fight against IS. The Iraqi government has distributed arms and ammunition to rustics, and Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi aims to establish a national guard made up of local fighters, though the necessary law has yet to pass parliament. |
| Posted by:Fred |