Leading Daesh member killed in Iraq’s Mosul: Police

By Serhad Shakir

NINEVEH, Iraq

Local residents of Iraq’s northern Nineveh province have killed a leading member of the embattled Daesh terrorist group, according to an Iraqi security source.

In a statement, Army Brigadier-General Hamad al-Jubouri said local tribesmen and residents of Nineveh’s Al-Baaj district had killed the district’s Daesh-appointed “governor” (identified as Ahmed Farhan Hamdan al-Obaidi, a.k.a. Abu Aisha al-Turkmani) and another Daesh member (Luai Ahmed Shata).

Located west of Mosul, the regional capital of Nineveh province, Al-Baaj was liberated from Daesh last year by Iraqi security forces.

According to al-Jubouri, Iraqi police also arrested five suspected Daesh members in eastern Mosul’s Al-Intisar district.

Since Iraqi forces -- with the help of a U.S.-led coalition -- recaptured Mosul from Daesh in mid-2017, they have carried out frequent mopping-up operations aimed at eradicating the terror group’s lingering presence in the area.

Last December, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in the country had been all but destroyed. The group, however, still appears to maintain a limited presence in northern and western Iraq.