Eight Iraqi soldiers killed and several others are injured in Islamic State attack on Anbar roadblock

Eight Iraqi soldiers were killed and injured Friday in an armed attack launched by Islamic State (IS) militants on a security checkpoint in Anbar, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Basnews website, the source said, “A security checkpoint set up on a highway in Al-Qa’im district, west of Anbar, was targeted by a group of IS militants in the wee hours of Friday.”

“The armed attack left four Iraqi soldiers killed, and four others wounded,” according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He pointed out that the “injured soldiers were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, while a security force arrived at the scene and opened a probe into the incident.”

“A manhunt was launched in search for perpetrators of the attack, who fled to unknown locations in the desert,” the source concluded.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November 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, 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