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Iraqi forces launch push to retake area north of Baghdad IS suicide bombers hit Iraqi military compound, killing 8
(about 3 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Backed by paramilitary forces and aerial support, Iraqi troops on Tuesday launched a new push to retake a key area north of the capital, Baghdad, and dislodge Islamic State militants from there, officials said. BAGHDAD — Four suicide bombers disguised as soldiers struck an Iraqi military headquarters in the western town of Haditha on Tuesday, killing eight army officers, including a local commander, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
The operation came as a group of suicide bombers targeted a military headquarters in Haditha in western Iraq, killing eight officers on Tuesday. Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement. Local councilman Khalid Salman said one of the bombers attacked the gate of the compound and the others struck after soldiers gathered to help the victims. He said eight soldiers were wounded in the attack.
According to a statement by the Joint Operations Command, the “new offensive” began at dawn in an agricultural area northwest of the city of Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, with the aim to cut IS supply lines and to tighten the grip around the IS-held northern city of Mosul. IS claimed the assault in online statements issued on jihadi websites, saying it was carried out by two Syrian suicide bombers. The AP could not confirm the authenticity of the statements, but they resembled previous announcements issued by the group.
The command says paramilitary forces, mostly Shiite militias, and the Iraqi air force were backing the push on the area, called Jazerat Samarra. The statement did not say if the U.S.-led international coalition was involved in the operation. Haditha is some 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad, near a key dam on the Euphrates. IS has attacked the town on a number of occasions, but has never been able to seize it.
Controlling the Jazerat Samarra area will not only restrict IS militants’ movements between the three provinces in the region, but will also be essential for future operations to retake parts of Anbar province and Mosul, said Sabah al-Numan, the spokesman of the counter-terrorism forces. Iraqi forces, primarily Shiite militias, meanwhile launched a new push to retake a sprawling desert area outside the central city of Samarra, home to one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, officials said.
Al-Numan told The Associated Press that two vehicles loaded with militants were bombed on Tuesday, and that the security forces managed to hit a would-be suicide car bomber before he reached his target. They hope to cut IS supply lines and tighten the noose around the IS-held northern city of Mosul -- Iraq’s second largest -- according to a statement by the Joint Operations Command. The statement said Iraqi warplanes were supporting the mission. It did not say if the U.S.-led international coalition was involved.
The offensive comes on the heels of two massive bombings in as many days by the Islamic State group in the area — in the town of Muqdadiyah and in Baghdad — that killed at least 110 people. Shiite lawmaker Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the paramilitary forces, said the offensive “is in retaliation for the blood of our martyrs and to annihilate the terrorist gangs that have wreaked havoc.”
Shiite lawmaker and spokesman for the paramilitary forces, Ahmed al-Asadi, said the offensive “is in retaliation for the blood of our martyrs and to annihilate the terrorist gangs that have wreaked havoc.” Sabah Al-Numan, the spokesman for national counter-terrorism forces, told The Associated Press that two vehicles loaded with militants were bombed on Tuesday, and that the security forces struck a would-be suicide car bomber before he reached his target.
Meanwhile, four suicide bombers disguised in army uniform struck at dawn at the military headquarters in the city of Haditha, 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad, killing eight troops, including a local army commander, councilman Khalid Salman told the AP. Iraqi forces have advanced against IS in recent months, driving the extremists from the western city of Ramadi and pushing them back on other fronts. But progress has been slow, and IS has launched counterattacks, often involving multiple suicide bombers.
One of the bombers first attacked the gate of the building, then the others blew up themselves up when people gathered at the scene to help the victims. Salman said eight soldiers were also wounded in the attack. Massive bombings claimed by IS over the last two days in Baghdad and the northeastern town of Muqdadiyah killed at least 110 people. On Tuesday, separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded 31 others, according to police and health officials.
In online statements, IS group claimed responsibility for the attack, but said it was carried out by two bombers, who were identified as Syrians. AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the statements, issued on different websites, but its language and phrasing is consistent with past claims of responsibility. In one attack, militants broke into a soldier’s home south of Baghdad, killing his wife and two children, aged seven and five years old, a police officer said. The solider was critically wounded, he added.
Also Tuesday, separate attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 13 people and wounded 31 others, police and health officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
In one attack, militants broke into the house of a solider in the town of Youssifiyah, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, killing his wife and two children, aged seven and five years old, a police officer said. The solider was critically wounded, he added. Visiting Baghdad on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would begin training Iraqi officers in Jordan.
In the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, a bomb struck a Shiite militia patrol, killing two and wounding four, the same police officer said. And eight civilians were killed and 26 others wounded in separate bombs attacks against commercial areas in Baghdad on Tuesday, the police said. “Iraqi officers will receive training in key priority fields, including countering Improvised Explosive Devices, military medicine and civil-military planning,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
Medical officials confirmed casualty numbers. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The U.S.-led coalition against IS has trained more than 18,000 Iraqi troops since December 2014. Iraqi officials have called for an increase in the pace of training efforts ahead of a planned Mosul offensive that Iraq’s prime minister has promised will begin this year. Coalition officials say it is too early to set a timeline for the operation.
IS still controls much of northern and western Iraq, but has been driven back in recent months in some areas, such as the cities of Ramadi and Tikrit. The government last month declared the western city of Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, “fully liberated” after it had been captured by IS last year. IS still controls large areas of northern and western Iraq that it seized in the summer of 2014, part of a self-declared Islamic caliphate that extends into neighboring Syria.
Iraqi ground offensives — despite heavy backing from U.S.-led coalition airstrikes — have been slow in scoring key victories against the Islamic State. A campaign to retake Mosul, the main city held by Islamic State in Iraq, has long been believed to be imminent but has not taken off the ground yet.
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Associated Press writers Murtada Faraj in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Egypt contributed to this report. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Egypt, John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels, and Murtada Faraj and Susannah George in Baghdad contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.