Iraqi troops destroy four Islamic State terrorist hotbeds in Diyala

Iraqi security forces have destroyed four terrorist hotbeds of the Islamic State group in the eastern province of Diyala, a police spokesman said.

“A security operation was launched in Mandali town, 90 km east of Baqubah, where troops of the Iraqi army and police destroyed four Islamic State terrorist hotbeds and seized a large cache of ammunition and four locally-made explosive charges,” the Iraqi Baghdad Today news website quoted Diyala police spokesman Col. Ghaleb al-Attia as saying in a press statement Monday.

The operation was conducted by a joint force of Diyala emergency and SWAT directorates, the spokesman added.

Also, troops of the Iraqi army and Diyala intelligence took part in the operation.

In January 2015, Iraqi forces announced liberation of Diyala province from Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The province has seen months of fighting between Iraqi troops and IS militants especially in the Jalawla and Saadiyah areas in the province’s north and areas near the town of Muqdadiyah.

Source: Iraqi News