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  ISIS kills at least 5 in Iraq town suicide raid

ISIS kills at least 5 in Iraq town suicide raid

AFP
Published : May 15, 2016, 6:51 am IST
Updated : May 15, 2016, 6:51 am IST

ISIS infiltrated a town in Iraq’s Anbar province with several fighters wearing suicide belts on Saturday in a raid that killed at least five people, security officials said.

ISIS infiltrated a town in Iraq’s Anbar province with several fighters wearing suicide belts on Saturday in a raid that killed at least five people, security officials said. The jihadist attackers entered Amriyat al-Fallujah, a government-held town 50 km southwest of Baghdad and a key base for any operation against the ISIS-controlled city of Fallujah, further north.

“Eight suicide bombers snuck into the city, the security forces succeeded to repel the attack by killing five of them,” Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi, who heads Anbar Operations Command, said. “The other three blew themselves up, which led to the killing of three civilians and two policemen,” he said.

A leader of the tribal forces assisting federal forces in Anbar confirmed the death toll and said the situation had been brought back under control.

The government’s “war media cell” that provides updates on Iraq’s fight against the jihadists posted a video of fighters shooting in the air to celebrate their thwarting of the attack.

A vehicle could be seen dragging the body of an attacker on the road as pro-government fighters cheered.

Amriyat al-Fallujah lies around 20 km south of Fallujah, which is one of the two main remaining cities ISIS controls in the country. The other is Mosul, the country’s second city, which lies in the north of Iraq.

Location: Iraq, Baghdad