Iraq Tightens Security Measures to Protect Top Army Commanders from ISIL

“The new security measures will prevent the ISIL from gaining information about the movements of Iraq’s top military commanders,” an Iraqi security source told FNA on Saturday.

He said the security surveys and investigations show that the blast that killed Major General Abu Raghef must have been the result of an assassination plot and not an uncalculated casualty of a simple enemy attack.

Therefore, he said, this shows that there could be some information leaks and security measures should intensify.

Ahmad al-Sharifi, another Iraqi security official, told FNA that the ISIL must have had accurate information about the whereabouts of the Iraqi army commanders otherwise, the terrorist group could not have placed bomb-laden cars in the way of the commanders’ convoy.

He cautioned that ISIL still has some dormant cells in newly freed regions, “and this necessitates tighter security measures”.

The Iraqi military experts also pointed to the inefficiency of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition.

“The coalition refrains from targeting ISIL’s positions on different pretexts such as trying to gather intelligence about the Takfiri terrorists’ strongholds,” Abdul Karim al-Jabouri complained.

On Thursday, two Iraqi army commanders and three Iraqi soldiers were killed by an ISIL suicide bomber driving a military vehicle packed with explosives.

The bomber attacked the unit in southern Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, Iraqi Ministry of Defense spokesman Brigadier Yahya Al-Zubaidi said.

Killed in the blast were Major General Abdulrahman Mehdi Abu Raghef, who was the deputy commander of the army’s Anbar Operation Command, and Colonel Safeen Abdul Majid, commander of the army’s 10th division, Al-Zubaidi added.

Three other soldiers were killed and 10 were injured in the attack, the spokesman said.