BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) said Sunday that its commando forces have killed over a dozen Daesh terrorists across the country in a new operation.
Spokesman of CTS Sabah al-Numan told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the commandos, backed by Iraqi aircraft, carried out several security operations in June, killing 13 Daesh terrorists and arresting many others, in addition to the destruction of some caves and hideouts.
The CTS forces will continue their operations to hunt down Daesh terrorists, al-Numan said.
The Iraqi military said security forces on Saturday launched an operation to clear the rural areas in the eastern province of Diyala from Daesh terrorists.
A joint force from the Iraqi army, police, and Hashd Sha’abi popular forces pushed into an agricultural area south of Diyala’s provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, to chase Daesh terrorists, Diyala’s police command spokesman Nihad al-Mahdawi told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, Tahseen al-Khafaji, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, told the official Iraqi News Agency that the Iraqi forces “have been working for some time ... in the border areas with Syria by setting up towers and thermal cameras for surveillance to prevent the extremist militants from infiltrating from neighboring Syria.”
The operations were part of efforts to eliminate the terrorists who intensified their attacks on security forces and civilians in the formerly Daesh-controlled provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the Iraqi security forces fully defeated Daesh terrorists across the country late in 2017.
However, Daesh remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent terrorist attacks against security forces and civilians.