Coalition airstrike kills six ‘terrorists’ on Iraqi-Syrian border

Coalition aircraft killed six alleged terrorists during an air raid in Nineveh province near the Iraqi-Syrian border, Iraq announced on Thursday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Coalition aircraft killed six alleged terrorists during an air raid in Nineveh province near the Iraqi-Syrian border, Iraq announced on Thursday.

The nation's military communications center known as the Security Media Cell reported the “deaths of six terrorists and the destruction of a hideout south of Lake Sanisla, located in al-Baaj district.” According to a statement, the coalition airstrikes were carried out based on “accurate intelligence” from Nineveh Operation Command, which coordinates security forces operating in the province.

Though the Islamic State was not mentioned specifically, its fighters were presumably the targets.

Last week, a similar bombing near a remote village, also in Nineveh, resulted in the deaths of four other alleged members of the group as part of a large military operation begun in early July against the group in multiple locations of semi-desert terrain.

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The area, located across the provinces of Nineveh, Salahuddin, and Anbar, are known together as the “desert triangle,” a security source told Kurdistan 24. Since the fall of the former regime in 2003, the area has been used as a launching pad by multiple insurgent groups to attack Iraqi security forces and civilian targets.

The military campaign against remaining members of the Islamic State is just the latest major one carried out by Iraqi security forces, with the participation of both Shia Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) militias and their local Sunni counterparts, according to an announcement released by the deputy commander of the joint operation, Major General Abdul-Amir Yarallah. Additional support, he continued, was being provided by US-led coalition aircraft.

The military also said on Thursday that a PMF team had “killed two terrorists and injured four others in an ambush near Sheikh Baba village in Tal Ali that is located between Khanaqin and Jalawla districts.” 

Additionally, inside Jalawla, two separate explosions wounded seven in the disputed town.

Read More: Explosions injure seven in Iraq’s disputed Jalawla town

The incident resulted in the injury of two Iraqi soldiers, a security source told Kurdistan 24. Ambulances were dispatched to the site and transferred those wounded to nearby hospitals. 

Iraq announced the military defeat of the extremist group in December 2017, but its members continue to launch insurgent attacks, including ambushes and kidnappings, in several provinces across the country. 

Editing by John J. Catherine