Iraqi Army Repels Daesh Offensive on Samarra
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iraq’s army foiled a major attack by Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists in the holy city of Samarra, north-central Salahuddin Province.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement on Tuesday that army forces repulsed the attack following intelligence and security measures , the online Arabic-language Ray al-Youm website reported.
It added that the assailants suffered heavy losses in a counterattack.
Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the ISIL terrorist group.
The ISIL militants made advances in northern and western Iraq over summer 2014, after capturing 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, blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive and in recent months led to liberation of much of the territories occupied by Daesh.
