BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – A senior commander of the Iraqi Popular Units (PMU) said that a large number of Daesh terrorists were killed in Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk, through the popular forces’ intelligence operations.
Mohammad al-Tamimi, a top commander of PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi in Arabic, told the Arabic-language al-Maloumeh news website that “The killing of half of the Daesh elements in airstrikes in those three Iraqi provinces were the result of Hashd al-Sha’abi’s intelligence efforts.”
He added that the PMU intelligence organization is very active in the provinces of Diyala, Salahuddin (Salah al-Din), and Kirkuk, and has achieved important results through monitoring and reconnaissance missions on the Daesh sleeper cells.
Al-Tamimi said that the PMU intelligence forces act in great cooperation and coordination with the other Iraqi intelligence and security forces.
“In order to carry out operations against Daesh elements in remote and mountainous areas, the cooperation and intervention of the Iraqi air force was needed,” the senior PMU commander added.
“In the first quarter of this year, more than 50 terrorists, 9 of whom were commanders of at the terror group, were killed in Diyala, Salah al-Din and Kirkuk provinces, of whom 22 were killed in Diyala province only.
In the latest development on Wednesday, four Daesh terrorists, including a local commander, were killed in an operation north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.
Based on intelligence reports, Iraqi soldiers and a local paramilitary force from Hashd al-Sha’abi carried out an ambush operation against a group of Daesh terrorists in the orchards of the Tarmiyah area, some 40 km north of Baghdad, according to a statement issued by the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.
The statement added that the forces killed four Daesh terrorists, one of whom is believed to be the commander of the north Baghdad region.