BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug 25 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi forces, on Saturday, killed four Daesh militants, during the first day of the fourth phase of a major offensive, to hunt down remnants of the militants in the desert of Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the Iraqi military said.
The Iraqi army and Hashd Shaabi paramilitary fighters clashed with the militants at an area located in western Anbar, leaving two militants killed and four others captured, a statement by the Iraqi Defence Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the coalition aircraft conducted an airstrike on two Daesh positions in Anbar desert, and completely destroyed them, the statement said.
On the same day, Jawad al-Rubaie, a Hashd Shaabi leader, said, the paramilitary fighters killed two militants, one of whom was a suicide bomber, and defused 12 roadside bombs, and removing a number of landmines, according to Hashd Shaabi statement.
Earlier, a joint force from the Iraqi army, police, and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi, carried out the fourth phase of the offensive dubbed “Victory Will,” to clear Anbar’s desert and other areas in the province from the Daesh remnants.
In July, the Iraqi forces, backed by the Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft, conducted the first and second phases of the “Victory Will,” aimed at securing areas in the north of Baghdad and the provinces of Anbar, Salahudin and Nineveh.
The troops concluded the third phase of the offensive in the provinces of Nineveh and Diyala on Aug 5.– NNN-NINA
