ISIS executes 5 in Anbar
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has executed five of its leaders in western Anbar over reluctance, a paramilitary official was quoted saying on Tuesday.
“IS executed five leaders in Annah town, west of Ramadi, and punished others,” Qutri al-Obeidi, leader within the Shia-led al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), told AlSumaria News.
“The group accused the slain and punished leaders of reluctance especially after several members were killed and injured by army and paramilitary troops over the past few days,” Obeidi added.
A source from the army’s command was quoted on Monday as saying that intensive strikes were seen at the towns of Annah and Rawa targeting five rest houses of the extremist group and a building used as a court.
Last week, eleven members were killed as Jazeera Operations Command, along with the Tribal Mobilization Forces, carried out military operations in Anbar desert from two directions toward Annah and Rawa towns.
Anbar’s western towns of Annah, Qaim and Rawa are still held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them.
5 die in IED attack in Diyala
Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A whole family composed of five members were killed in a bomb blast, northeast of Diyala province, a security source said on Tuesday.
“A bomb exploded while a vehicle was passing on an abandoned road linking between al-Assaf and Omar Manda villages at the outskirts of Qurret Tabbah, northeast of Diyala. A man, his wife and three children, who were on board, were killed,” the source told Alghad Press.
“Security services conducted investigations and transferred the victims to forensic medicine department,” the source added.
Attacks launched by IS militants against security troops, the pro-government forces and civilians surged over the past few weeks in northeast of Diyala, which urge the Iraqi forces to prevent the militants infiltration between Salahuddin and Kirkuk provinces, especially the regions stretching along Hamreen mountains and Al-Azeem town. Several regions were freed in wide-scale military operations launched by army troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition.
Brit chick named as ISIS Top Doc in Kirkuk
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has named a British national female doctor as head of the group’s health department in southwest of Kirkuk, a security source was quoted saying.
“IS selected a British female doctor from Sudanese origin, who arrived to Nineveh via Syria two years ago, to head the group’s health department after the group’s health minister was killed in an airstrike in Hawija,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AlSumaria News on Tuesday. “The doctor was one of eight doctors who fled London to join IS.”
The group, according to the source, “handed over the responsibilities of the department to the doctor, to be the first woman who heads that post in the group.”
Hawija and other neighboring towns, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. The group executed dozens of civilians and security members there, forcing thousands to flee homes.
Dozens of residents from Hawija and the regions in its vicinity escape to Kirkuk province on a daily basis. Despite the risky routes to the freed regions, civilians prefer death to staying under IS control.
Few thousands of IS militants remain in other holdouts in Diyala, Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Anbar.