BAGHDAD, Sept 14 (NNN-NINA) – Two army officers were killed and three soldiers wounded yesterday, in an attack by the extremist Daesh militants, in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, said a local security source.
The attack occurred in the morning when the Daesh militants opened fire on a military patrol near the town of Dibis, north-west of the namesake provincial capital, Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the capital, Baghdad, Salam al-Obaidi from the Kirkuk police said.
Following the attack, a clash broke out between the two sides, during which a military vehicle was also damaged, al-Obaidi said.
He added that, an Iraqi army force rushed to the scene and searched the area afterwards, to hunt down the attackers.
Also yesterday, the Iraqi military said, it identified several senior Daesh leaders among the 14 militants it killed, in an operation targeting Daesh hideouts in western Iraq’s Anbar desert, on Aug 29.
According to a statement from the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, DNA tests on the 14 dead bodies revealed that, Ahmed Hamed Zwain, deputy of the Daesh group’s top leader in Iraq, who was known by his nickname Abu Siddiq or Abu Muslim, and Abu Ali Al-Tunisi, head of weapons development and manufacturing for the Daesh, were among the victims.
The statement added, the fatalities also included the leader of the group’s southern region and its leadership chain in Anbar province, including local leader, Abu Hammam and several other military, communications, and financial officials.– NNN-NINA
