Iraqi army forces repel Islamic State attacks in Kirkuk and Diyala

Iraqi troops and fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) repelled two major attacks by Daesh terrorists in the provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala.

According to reports by Iraqi media and security sources, members of the terror group on Sunday launched an attack on the district of Molla Abdollah in southern Kirkuk but were pushed back by Iraqi troops.

The sources added that a member of Iraq’s Federal Police was killed in the process of the counterattack.

A number of the terrorists were also killed and dozens of them fled the battlefield, the reports added.

The Iraqi troops also managed to thwart an attack by the Takfiri group against rural areas near the town of Jalawla in Diyala province.

Daesh has intensified its attacks in Iraq amid Baghdad’s call on the US to pull out its forces from the Arab country.

In a vote on January 5, the Iraqi parliament called for an end to the presence of all foreign troops, including Americans.

The vote came two days after the US military – acting on US President Donald Trump’s order – launched a fatal drone strike on senior Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani upon his arrival in the Iraqi capital at the invitation of the Baghdad government.

The attack also claimed the lives of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU or Hashd al-Sha’abi, along with eight other Iranian and Iraqi people.

Washington has threatened sanctions should US troops be expelled instead of heeding the Iraqi parliament’s call to end the occupation of the country.

Source: Abna 24