Iraqi forces kill would-be suicide bomber north of Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi military announced on Sunday that its forces had killed an intended suicide bomber before he could detonate his explosives in the district of Tarmiyah, about 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. 

“The security forces of Baghdad Operations Command killed a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt and carrying a number of grenades and a Kalashnikov weapon in the village of Ghaziliya,” read a government statement. 

According to security forces, there were no additional casualties among security forces or the civilian population. The intended target or targets of the bomber, if known by security forces, was not specified. 

Tarmiyah, located in Salahuddin province, has been the site of repeated attacks by the Islamic State since the group's military defeat in Iraq in December 2017. 

After several security force members were killed or wounded there in June and July, the Iraqi military announced it was shifting its focus from an area known as the “desert triangle” located near the Syrian border across the provinces of Nineveh, Salahuddin, and Anbar to begin new major operations in and around Tarmiyah. 

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Rural areas covered mostly in farmland and orchards outside Tarmiyah have also often been used as a launching pad by the Islamic State to attack Iraqi security forces and civilian targets in surrounding areas, including the capital of Baghdad.