Three ISIS militants arrested while infiltrating into Tal Afar

Iraqi forces arrested on Sunday three Islamic State terrorists while trying to infiltrate into Tal Afar district in Nineveh, a security source said.

“Security forces, in cooperation with military intelligence officers, arrested three IS terrorists while trying to infiltrate into Tal Afar district via desert routes bordering Syria,” the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) quoted a security source as saying.

They were taken to a police station for interrogation, the source added.

Also, Iraqi troops destroyed an IS hideout east of Diyala province on Sunday, a military commander said.

Speaking to AlSumaria News, Commander of the Tigris Operations Lieutenant General Mazher al-Azzawi said the hideout included two mortar shells, weapons and explosives.

It is the second IS hideaway to be destroyed today upon accurate intelligence information, Azzawi added.

Earlier in the day, an IS hideout was destroyed in an airstrike on a village in al-Muqdadiyah city, Diyala.

The Iraqi army announced on Thursday the launch of an offensive to clear the desert bordering Syria of IS militants.

Army, police and paramilitary units are taking part in the operation, which aim at clearing provinces of Salahuddin, Nineveh and Anbar provinces that form part of a region known as al-Jazirah, from Islamic State.

The operation comes days after Iraqi forces recaptured Rawa, the last Iraqi town controlled by the militant group.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he will announce “the final defeat” of IS once it is routed in the desert.

Many IS militants are believed to have fled to sparsely-populated parts of the al-Jazirah region after suffering a series of defeats across Iraq and Syria.

Source: Iraqi News