3 days of mourning as Daesh strikes Iraq

Iraq’s Saladin province declared three days of mourning yesterday after ten people were killed in an armed attack, while many denounced the Iraqi troop’s failure to eliminate Daesh sleeper cells.

Six soldiers and four civilians were killed on Saturday evening in an ambush by gunmen, 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, according to police sources.

Three years after authorities declared Daesh had been defeated, a roadside bomb exploded as a vehicle carrying civilians was passing by, and when the policemen and members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) came to rescue the victims, they were attacked by gunmen.

This comes ten days after 11 Iraqis, including PMF fighters, were killed in a grenade attack on a military post at the western entrance to Baghdad.

These losses are considered significant in a country that has not witnessed a major attack for at least three years.

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All of the attacks took place in the Sunni belt around the capital, where Iraqi forces carry out combing operations on a regular basis, while confirming each time the expulsion of militants from the area.

Sunni politician Jamal Al-Dhari said that this ambush “sheds light on repeated failures to fight terrorism,” stressing that “the government of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi must put in place a serious national strategy and stop forming investigation committees” after each attack.

These attacks came as Washington announced that it would soon withdraw 500 soldiers from Iraq, leaving only 2,500 soldiers in this country.

Almost all foreign troops that participated in Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS [Daesh] left Iraq at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.