The information was confirmed by another brigadier in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Gen. Safeen Abdul Majeed, commander of an army division…
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Denmark, a partner in the US-led air coalition against Islamic State in Iraq, said Thursday that it will temporarily pull back seven F-16 fighter jets.
Tens of soldiers were killed, including the two generals, it said without giving precise figures.
It is noteworthy that the commander of the Anbar Operations Maj.
The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the statement, but its language and phrasing is consistent with past IS claims of responsibility.
In the northern province of Kirkuk, Kurdish Peshmerga forces also attacked ISIL insurgents on Wednesday (August 26), in a bid to secure territory won back since last summer. Dogan video footage showed a large plume of smoke rising from across the border.
At least 22 militants of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said.
Brig Gen Yahya Rasool told state TV that the bomb went off as the army intercepted an explosives-laden vehicle which they believed was targeting them.
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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the deaths “will just increase our resolve and determination to rout the enemy”. It also controls major territory in neighbouring Syria, where it has thrived amid a bloody civil war. For a U.S.-trained military to have such prominent leaders near the front line suggests a deficiency in Iraq’s mid-level officer corps. Government forces retook Beiji late previous year from ISIL, but the armed group is on the offensive there again and now control about half of the town and the refinery, located to the north.
