BAGHDAD (Xinhua) – Seven Daesh terrorists were killed on Sunday in airstrikes in a mountainous area in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, the Iraqi military said.
Acting on intelligence reports, Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out two airstrikes on Daesh hideouts in Himreen mountain range in the northern part of Diyala province, leaving seven Daesh terrorists killed, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces Yahia Rasoul said in a statement.
Rasoul said that the leader of the terrorists group in Diyala province was among those killed in the airstrikes.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the defeat of the Daesh in 2017. However, Daesh terrorists have since melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent attacks against security forces and civilians.
Also on Sunday, on the other side of the border in Syria, Daesh terrorists killed 11 of the 75 people it kidnapped on Saturday in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.
A woman and a member of the Syrian government forces were among the victims, said the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The 75 workers were kidnapped by Daesh near Palmyra city on Saturday while they were collecting truffles, according to the observatory.
The fate of 64 others kidnapped remains unknown, the Britain-based watchdog noted.
The observatory said the Daesh terrorists took advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria and killed the victims.
Daesh terrorists took the desert region in eastern Syria as a safe haven after suffering heavy losses in 2018, and frequently attack and abduct civilians and military personnel in the region.