Three suicide bombers were killed as they were attempting to attack military units in west of Ramadi, Ikhnews website reported on Sunday. “Security troops opened fire as three suicide bombers, wearing suicide belts, were trying to attack a security checkpoint in Um al-Sawn region in Rutba, west of Ramadi. They were immediately killed, without casualties among troops,” a security source from Anbar Operations Command said.
Troops, according to the source, noticed the attackers before they reach to the checkpoint. Precautionary measures were taken to prevent further attacks. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them in 2015 and 2016.
In late September, the militant group invaded al-Tash and the 5th Kilometer regions, south and west of Ramadi. The militants reportedly took over al-Tash and al-Jamea (university) areas after invading them with 20 pickup trucks, however, troops were able to repulse the attack.
Anbar’s western towns of Qaim and Rawa have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”. Iraqi army announced the total recapture of the town of Annah and neighboring Rayhana area last month. Troops also liberated Akashat region, between Rutba town, on borders with Jordan, and Qaim, on borders with Syria.
In the same context, Two Islamic State militants were killed, while four rest houses were destroyed in an air raid launched, northeast of Diyala, the Dijla Operations Command announced.
“Aerial bombardment carried out by Iraqi fighter jets targeted four rest houses of IS, destroying them in Wadi Thilab, in Neft Khana, northeast of Diyala,” Maj. Gen. Mazhar al-Azzawi told Alghad Press on Sunday.
“The shelling left two militants, on a motorbike, killed,” Azzawi added. Naft Khana is considered a pivotal region in Diyala for its strategic location, being near to main roads, in addition to being geographically-connected to Hamreen basin.
Last week, Iraqi troops regained full control on Hamreen mountains that stretch out between Diyala and Kirkuk provinces, retaking areas between Zgheitoun bridge reaching until al-Fatha bridge, an area that stretches out 45 kilometers with depth of 15 kilometers.
Iraqi troops managed to retake several IS strongholds including Mosul and Tal Afar in Nineveh, Hawija in Kirkuk and Annah in Anbar. Only Qaim and neighboring Rawa currently remain in IS grip. In a weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a weekly press briefing on Tuesday that 2017 would witness the end of Islamic State’s existence in Iraq.
On humanitarian side, Over 200 displaced families have returned back from a refugee camp in Syria to Mosul city, an Iraqi MP was quoted saying on Sunday.
“250 families from Nineveh arrived over the past two days to Hamam al-Alil camp in south of Mosul, after staying for months in al-Hawl camp in Syria, enduring hard humanitarian situations there,” MP Abdul Rahim al-Shemari, who received the families, told Anadolu agency.
Shemari indicated “cooperation with Syrian authorities until the displaced arrived on board of government’s buses.” More people will return back later. “We provided 60 buses to transfer them to Mosul, which they fled during battles between Iraqi troops and Islamic State.”
Meanwhile, Cap. Haidar Ali al-Waeli, said “security committees from al-Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] have been tasked with checking identities of the Iraqi returnees from al-Hawl Syrian camp.”
Waeli added that “the security checking will be intensive as some IS militants seek hiding through fake identities due to being in control of the official documents and stamps of the civil status and nationality departments in several provinces like Nineveh, Anbar and Salahuddin, over the past three years.”
Thousands of residents from Mosul and western regions in Nineveh including Baaj, Tal Afar, Qahtaniya and other villages located near borders with Syria had fled toward al-Hawl refugee camp as battles between troops and the militants broke out.
Around four million civilians were internally displaced, while thousands of others fled toward neighboring countries including Syria, Turkey and other European countries, since IS emerged in 2014 when it covered one third of the country.
On political side, Iraqi President Fuad Masum and Kurdish counterpart Masud Barzani are currently convening in Sulaymaniyah, a province within Kurdistan Region, apparently to discuss the reported military standoff at Kirkuk.
Kurdish network Rudaw said also present at the meeting are the politburos of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. It quoted a senior official close to Masum saying that the Sunday meeting would be “different” from past meetings by the two parties as it will be chaired by Masum and Barzani.
The meeting comes as Iraqi government and Kurdish forces face off at the borders of the oil-rich Kirkuk province to which both governments claim sovereignty. Baghdad had demanded Kurdistan to hand over security in Kirkuk to Iraqi forces following a political crisis that erupted when Kurdistan held a referendum in September in which 92% voted for independence from Iraq.
On Thursday, Kurdistan Security Council warned that Iraq was preparing for a military offensive in Kirkuk, which was denied by Baghdad. On Saturday, brief clashes erupted between Peshmerga and the pro-Iraqi government Popular Mobilization Forces at Kirkuk, before both sides reportedly agreed on a truce.