Roaside bomb kills 7 Sunni fighters in northern Iraq

By Ahmed Qasim, Ibrahim Salih

NINEVEH, Iraq

At least seven Sunni tribal fighters were killed in a bomb explosion in northern Iraq on Wednesday, according to a local tribal commander.

Saad al-Laheebi said a patrol belonging to the Hashd al-Ashaeri militia struck a roadside bomb near the ancient city of Nimrud, killing seven fighters.

“The patrol entered an off-limits area that has not been cleared of bombs,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Iraqi forces captured Nimrud, the capital of the Assyrian empire between approximately 1250 BC and 610 BC, from Daesh group this weekend.

The Hashd al-Ashaeri is a local Sunni militia that fights alongside government forces against Daesh militants.

Last month, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and local allies on the ground -- launched a wide-ranging operation aimed at retaking Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in northern Iraq.

Once Iraq’s second largest city in terms of population, Mosul -- along with additional swathes of territory in the country’s north and west -- was overrun by Daesh in mid-2014.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army and its allies retake much territory from the terrorist group, especially on Mosul’s outskirts and in the western Anbar province.