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Iraq bombs IS target responsible for death of 2 senior military officials

Xinhua, August 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraqi aircraft carried out an air strike targeting a hideout of Islamic State (IS) militants said to be responsible for the killing of two senior army commanders in an earlier suicide car bomb attacks in the country's western province of Anbar, a military statement said on Sunday.

Iraqi warplanes struck a house in 7th Nisan district in the IS-held town of Qaim near the Iraqi-Syrian border, destroying the house and killing a number of IS militants, including five of the extremist group leaders, the joint operations command said in a statement without saying when exactly the strike occurred.

The statement said that an intelligence service cell in coordination with the joint operations command started on Friday to follow the IS leaders who planned for Thursday suicide attacks that targeted the security forces in north of Anbar's provincial capital city of Ramadi and killed two army commanders in addition to a number of officers and soldiers.

The intelligence service managed to spot the safe house in Qaim, which located some 330 km northwest of Baghdad, while the warplanes attacked and flattened the target with guided missiles, according to the statement.

It said that five of the cell leaders were among the killed, including Abu Obeida al-Jazaa'ri, an Algerian, who was the leader of suicide bombers in Euphrates (Furat) area, which includes Anbar province.

On Thursday, IS militant group claimed the responsibility for the deadly suicide bomb attack that killed a number of officers and soldiers, including Staff Major General Abdul-Rahaman Abu Raghif, deputy commander of Anbar provincial Operations Command, and Staff Brig. Gen. Sefien Abdul-Majid, commander of the Army's Tenth Division.

The IS group said in its online statement that four of its suicide bombers driving explosive-laden vehicles and two supporting militants with heavy machine guns carried out the attack on the headquarters of the provincial operations command in north of Ramadi.

It disclosed the names of the IS attackers, who were all killed by the attack, showing that they are from Tunisia, the Gaza Strip, Tajikistan, Germany, Saudi Arab and Syria.

Iraqi security forces and allied Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias have been fighting for months to retake control of key cities and towns in the largest province from IS militants, which seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad. Enditem