In the past twenty years acts of terrorism have been on a steady rise, with eight of the most active years being the time that Barack Obama was president. Can’t really say that one is a coincidence. A wide-scale military operation was launched on Monday to track down Islamic State terrorists at al-Nada area in Diyala, a military commander said.
Azzawi added that the intelligence-based operation comes as part of the command’s strategy to eliminate Islamic State throughout the province. “The operation was launched upon accurate intelligence reports,” he pointed out.
The troops also seized an arms depot for the terrorist group in Diyala as well.
Meanwhile in Mosul, at least sixty Islamic State militants were killed in a security campaign south of Mosul on Sunday, a security source said.
“The Iraqi army, police and Popular Mobilization Forces have been launching a wide-scale security campaign since Saturday evening, targeting Islamic State militants stationed in an island between al-Shumaisat and Albu Seif villages in southern Mosul,” a source with the Nineveh Operations Command told Al-Arab newspaper.
“Dozens of IS militants were arrested while others fled the scene to Yaremja city,” the source said, adding that the clampdown was launched after receiving reports of a plan by IS militants to attack the eastern and southern parts of Mosul.
“Search is still underway for other IS militants,” the source concluded.
Thousands of ISIS militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since a government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and a U.S.-led international coalition, was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
