ISIS suicide bomber kills 4 Iraqi policemen north of Tikrit
Erbil (Kurdistan 24) - Four Iraqi policemen were killed in an attack on Friday by an Islamic State suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest in the town of Baiji, northwest of Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province.
According to the Iraqi military communications center known as the Security Media Cell, a number of Islamic State militants launched an attack on Friday at a checkpoint near Bajji controlled by the Energy Police, forces in charge of all energy infrastructure protection.
“Clashes erupted between the two parties,” read the statement, “and security forces managed to kill a suicide bomber.”
“A security force began to search the area,” it continued, “and during this effort, an explosive device has exploded, wounding another officer.”
On Dec. 13 in the city of Samarra, also in Salahuddin, at least one vehicle-born improvised explosive device (VBEID) attack and possibly another suicide bombing appeared to target members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militias, killing several.
Read More: Car bombing kills several militiamen in Iraq’s Salahuddin
“A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber targeted a unit part of the Samarra Operations Center, leading to the martyrdom of four members of the 313th Brigade of the Hashd al-Shaabi,” read a military statement, using the name for the PMF in Arabic.
Islamic State sleeper cells continue to wage an insurgency across the nation despite multiple series of anti-terrorist campaigns by Iraqi government forces since Baghdad declared a final victory over the extremist organization, two years ago.
On Dec. 9, the Iraqi military announced the conclusion of the seventh phase of an ongoing military operation known as “Will of Victory.” The most recent phase took place in Anbar province and the previous one had the stated aim of locating and destroying the group's remnants in multiple areas within the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahuddin.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense on Saturday released a video recording showing airstrikes on Islamic State sleeper cell positions in the Diyala province portion of the Hamrin mountain range.
Read More: Iraqi warplanes shell ISIS hideout in Diyala’s Hamrin area, kill all occupants
Iraqi F-16 fighter jets raided one of the terrorist group’s hideouts on the mountain near Lake Hamrin in Diyala. The operation took place on Thursday.
The ministry wrote in a statement published on its Facebook page that forces had carried out the strikes in coordination with the Joint Operations Command, which coordinates both Iraqi police and military, and hit “Da’esh gangs targets,” using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.