Iraqi strike kills two ISIS suspects in Anbar
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants were killed in an Iraqi strike on their hideout in the vast western Anbar desert, the army said on Friday.
Iraq's air force 'carried out a successful airstrike using F-16 aircraft, which resulted in the killing of two ISIS terrorist gang members according to initial information. The strike was followed by successive explosions inside the hideout from the destruction of weapons, ammunition, equipment, and logistical materials inside,' the army's Security Media Cell said in a statement.
The army said that the Anbar strike was their 'own way' of congratulating the Iraqi people on the upcoming Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. 'This congratulations consisted of continuing to pursue and kill the remaining ISIS terrorist gang members,' it said.
Iraq carries out frequent airstrikes on suspected ISIS hideouts to pursue remnants of the group, particularly within areas of Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh provinces that are disputed between Erbil and Baghdad and a security vacuum exists, as well as in the Anbar desert that borders Syria. Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga are coordinating to combat the group in the disputed areas.
Two weeks ago, another airstrike in Anbar province killed Abdullah Makki Muslih al-Rafiei, ISIS's second-in-command globally and its top man in Iraq and Syria.
In late February, the head of Iraq's Security Media Cell told Rudaw that Iraqi security forces have largely eradicated ISIS from the country, with only a few hundred militants remaining in remote areas. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, three years after it seized control of swathes of territory in the north and centre of the country.
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