5 killed in Daesh/ISIS attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD

Five Iraqis, including a soldier, were killed in attacks by suspected Daesh/ISIS militants in Iraq on Saturday, according to security sources.

Daesh/ISIS militants launched an attack on a military barracks in Jalawla district in the eastern Diyala province, leaving a soldier dead, a police officer told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to address the media.

He said a Humvee military vehicle was also destroyed in the attack.

According to the source, military reinforcements were dispatched to the site to pursue the attackers.

In another attack, an explosive device exploded at a patrol of the pro-government Hashd al-Shaabi militia (Population Mobilization Force) in the northern Salahuddin province, a local police officer said.

A militiaman was killed and four others were injured in the attack.

In the western Anbar province, three family members were killed when gunmen broke into their home in the district of Heet in the province, a police officer said.

The attacks came after 14 people were killed on Friday in a suspected Daesh/ISIS attack on a funeral in the northern Salahuddin province.

Attacks blamed on Daesh/ISIS fighters have escalated in Iraq in recent months, especially in the provinces of Salahuddin, Diyala, and Kirkuk.

In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all of its territory -- about a third of the country’s area -- invaded by the terror group in 2014.

But the terror group still maintains sleeper cells in large areas of Iraq and periodically launches attacks. The Iraqi army continues to carry out frequent operations against the group in parts of the country.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara