Daesh attack kills 13 Iraqi fighters in Mosul

Monitoring Desk

BAGHDAD: At least 13 pro-government fighters were killed in a Daesh attack in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, according to an Iraqi military officer.

Scores of Daesh militants attacked military barracks and checkpoints belonging to the Hashd al-Shaabi militia in Tal Safuk, west of Mosul, Capt. Sabhan Kazem told Anadolu Agency.

He said clashes flared between the two sides for an hour before the attackers pulled out into the desert after the Iraqi army sent reinforcements into the area.

“Thirteen fighters were killed and a number of vehicles were damaged in the attack,” he said.

No casualties were repo-rted among Daesh militants.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced that the war against the Daesh terrorist group was over, saying that Iraq’s border with Syria had been completely secured.

Meanwhile, A Sunni parliamentary bloc has called for the withdrawal of pro-government militias from Iraqi cities ahead of the country’s parliamentary election next year.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Iraqi Forces Coalition (IFC) said the pullout of “unofficial forces” from the cities would ensure the holding of a “fair” election in Iraq. It underlined the “need to create a favorable atmosphere for holding election on time via the full return of the displaced people to their cities”.

The Sunni bloc, which holds 53 seats in the 328-member parliament, called on the government to “remove obstacles and address reasons that prevent the return of the displaced to their homes”.

Iraq’s parliamentary election is scheduled to be held in May. The Sunni bloc warned that holding the polls in May “would deprive most residents of the liberated areas from the right to participate” in the vote.

Nearly four million Iraqis are estimated to have been forced to flee their homes since the Daesh terrorist group seized vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

According to Iraqi government estimates, roughly half of those displaced from their homes have since returned.

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced that the war against Daesh was over, saying that Iraq’s border with Syria had been completely secured.

On Monday, Iraq’s firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered members of Saraya al-Salam militia, his Sadrist movement’s military wing, to hand over their weapons to the Iraqi government after defeating the Daesh terrorist group.

“I ordered the Saraya al-Salam group to immediately surrender their weapons to the state,” al-Sadr told reporters in the southern city of Najaf.

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said the fight against Daesh was over, saying that Iraqi forces were in full control of Iraq’s border with Syria.

“Saraya al-Salam will be turned into a public organization,” al-Sadr said. “We want the government in return to create new job opportunities for the unemployed.” He said he would freeze all his military units after a United Nations decision on Saturday to end sanctions imposed on Iraqi following its invasion.