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Iraq
Diyala-Salahuddin border clearances continue
2017-12-20

Official: Islamic State snipers’ siege on Diyala village ended

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A local official in Diyala declared on Tuesday the end of a siege imposed by Islamic State snipers on a village at the borders with Salahuddin.

Mayor of al-Khales, Udai al-Khadran, told Alsumaria News that “joint security troops, backed by the Popular Mobilization Forces, have managed to end a siege imposed by IS snipers on Mubarak al-Farhan village on the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin…which lasted for eight consecutive days”.

The end of the siege came after forces cleared the mountains surrounding the village, where the militants deployed to target farmers bound to their farmlands.

Mubarak al-Farhan is one of the villages recaptured by Iraqi security during the campaign to eliminate Islamic State’s self-styled “caliphate”. It falls within the administrative borders of Salahuddin province, and is located very close to the Mutaibija Basin, a longtime hotbed for Islamic State militants.

Iraqi Military says operations at areas between Diyala, Salahuddin accomplished

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The military media has announced the outcome of offensives to comb the regions located on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said, “the ground troops, backed by al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) and army aviation supervised offensive carried out by each of Salahuddin, Samarra and Dijlah operations commands in Mutaibija and villages in its vicinity to clear them of militants.”

“Dijlah Operations Command managed to destroy 12 rest houses, five tunnels and four trenches, in addition to fuel containers that were used by Islamic State. Explosives and suicide belts were detonated,” the statement said.

Troops of the command, according to the statement, “destroyed two vehicles, four motorbikes, three weapon stashes and a booby-trapped haven.”

Three victims’ bodies were found inside a prison, the WMC said.

Troops of the Salahuddin command, “combed 19 villages, detonated seven bombs and burned two rest houses.”

Moreover, “Five bombs were defused by the Samarra Operations Command, while 12 villages were purged.”

On Monday, Karim al-Khaqani, PMFs commander, said in a press statement that operations lasted for three days to purge Mutaibija and surrounding areas have come to an end with the support of the Iraqi army’s 15th division and the airforce.

Commander: IS made edicts to kill dogs, plant drugs on borders between two provinces

Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) A leader from the pro-government paramilitary troops have revealed that the Islamic State group issued several edicts at regions on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces.

“Mutaibija region, located on borders between Diyala and Salahuddin, have been a shelter for the remnants of IS escaping from five states. The militant group tried to turn the region to a state, thanks to its geographic location, which threatens several provinces at the same time,” Jabbar al-Maamouri, a leader with al-Hashd al-haabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) told AlSumaria News on Tuesday.

“The group issued several edicts in Mutaibija. One of them was urging the militants to kill dogs considering them as moving devils,” he said.

The group, according to Maamouri, “wanted to plant some drugs in Mutaibija, as it was suffering shortage of drugs. However, the recent combing operations ruined their schemes.”
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