Dozens of ISIL Terrorists Killed in Iraqi Army Operations
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraqi army troops and police backed by volunteer forces mounted massive operations in various regions of the country against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group, killing dozens of them in Anbar and Saladin provinces, a source said on Thursday.
According to an Iraqi military source, the Special Operations Unit of the Iraqi Federal Police, in a major operation aimed at clearing the Baiji District in Saladin province from ISIL terrorists, killed dozens of them and destroyed their vehicles equipped with machine guns.
In another operation in Husaybah area east of Ramadi, the capital city of western province of Anbar, the Iraqi army and Popular Mobilization Forces managed to kill Abu Sayyaf al-Ansari, one of ISIL's top leaders.
Five other ISIL terrorists among his accomplices were also killed in the operation and a number of their vehicles were destroyed, according to another source.
Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the ISIL terrorist group.
The ISIL militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the last summer, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
