Iraqi security forces destroy secret Islamic State tunnels in Anbar

Iraqi security forces destroyed on Tuesday several Islamic State tunnels and seized a large cache of the terrorist group’s weapons in Anbar province, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to the privately-owned Almaalomah news agency, the source said that a security operation was launched to purge the desert of Hit district, west of Anbar, from Islamic State’s terrorist hotbeds.

The operation, according to the source, resulted in destroying many secret tunnels of Islamic State and seizing a large cache of ammunition and weapons at the scene. It was launched based on intelligence information, he added.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.

Source: Iraqi News