SHAFAQNA- Press TV: Two security forces have been killed and three others wounded during the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group’s attacks on two security checkpoints in northern Iraq, according to the Iraqi military.
In a statement on Monday, the Iraqi military said the attacks were launched in the Alas oilfields area of the northern Salahuddin province.
“Elements of the terrorist Daesh gangs attacked two security checkpoints in the Alas oilfields area of Salahuddin province, and an improvised explosive device blew up a vehicle belonging to security forces stationed there, leading to the martyrdom of two of them,” the statement said.
The terrorists also opened fire on the security forces who attempted to evacuate the bodies, injuring three more.
The attacks were launched as Iraqi government forces, supported by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units, have been carrying out clean-up operations against remnants of the Takfiri terrorist group across the country, killing dozens of the extremists in the process.
Daesh has been purged from almost the entire territories it used to control in Iraq and neighboring Syria. However, sporadic attacks by the group are still reported in the two countries.
In February, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said he was concerned about developments in Syria, where Daesh terrorists lost their last stronghold on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and started fleeing in droves toward desert areas in Iraq’s Anbar.
The recent developments in northern Syria, where the Turkish military is launching an operation against Kurdish militants following the withdrawal of US forces from the region, have increased concerns about the rebirth of Daesh, especially in areas close to the Iraqi border.
There are also reports that US military forces are transporting to safe sanctuaries hundreds of members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group from the desert region of al-Jazirah in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah to neighboring Iraq.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing media and local sources, reported that American forces had recently transported the terrorists to an unknown location. The Daesh members were being kept at al-Hol refugee camp, which lies close to the Syria-Iraq border and is run by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Since October 9, SANA said, US forces have transported hundreds of Daesh extremists and their relatives from Syrian territories to Iraq in six batches. The date is when Turkey and its allied militants launched a ground offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.
Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes of land. On July 2017, the then-Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared military victory over Daesh.