At least 22 “jihadists” from the Islamic State (IS) group, including unidentified top officials, were killed in an operation by the Iraqi army in Anbar province in the west of the country on Sunday.
The operation was overseen by the army command and took place in the northern region of Ruba, the head of Iraq’s counter-terrorism special forces, General Abd al Wahab al Saedi, announced at a news conference.
The operation lasted six hours due to the difficulty of accessing the terrorists’ hideout, many of them wearing “explosive vests”, the Europa news agency describes.
Abd al Wahab al Saedi said the operation was carried out in top secrecy.
According to the official Iraqi news agency INA, only six security agents were aware, to prevent it from becoming public.
Despite the territorial defeat in 2017, Islamic State cells remain active in Iraq and Syria.
In recent months, the Iraqi government has launched several arrest operations that have led to the arrest of dozens of suspected ties to the former caliphate.
Source: DN
