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Security forces repel IS attack in northern Iraq

Xinhua, February 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias on Tuesday repelled an attack by the Islamic State (IS) militants on military positions near the city of Samarra in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

Dozens of IS militants stormed the military bases and outposts near the highway west of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops, backed by Iraqi aircraft, repelled the attacks after hours of fierce clashes, in which at least seven Shiite militiamen were killed and some 21 militiamen and security members wounded, the source said, adding that an unknown number of IS militants were also killed and wounded during the clashes.

After the clashes, the troops found a tanker truck and two armored vehicles packed with explosives which were prepared for suicide attacks, but the IS militants managed to withdraw using heavy fire and left the vehicles behind, the source said.

Just a day ago, the IS militants carried out a suicide bombing attack using a tanker truck that targeted the security forces north of the city, killing at least seven security members and injuring some 28 others.

Meanwhile, a large number of reinforcement troops have entered Samarra following recent attacks. They and the Shiite militiamen intensified security measures inside the city and blocked all the roads leading to it, the source said.

Large parts of Salahudin province have been under IS control since June 11, a day after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS group. The IS later took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

Late last year, Iraq's firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to prepare for jihad, or holy war, to protect the holy shrines in Samarra against the IS militants, as the IS was pushing forward in northern and central parts of the country.

The predominantly Sunni city of Samarra is home to the provincial operations command of Salahudin and the Shiite shrine of Imam Ali al-Hadi. The shrine contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi and his son Hassan al-Askari, the 10th and 11th of the Shiites' 12 most revered Imams. Endit