Iraqi airstrike kills senior terrorist of Daesh

A high-ranking member of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has been killed in an Iraqi airstrike in the province of Salahuddin, north of the capital, Baghdad.

The Iraqi warplanes bombed a position of the terrorist group in the province’s city of Shirqat on Sunday, killing Abdul Azim al-Ojeili, who had declared himself the “governor” of Salahuddin, Iraq’s al-Forat news agency reported.

According to the report, the air raid also killed 18 other terrorists and destroyed two of their vehicles.

To the west, dozens of Daesh terrorists were killed in Iraqi airstrikes on their positions in the district of al-Karablah in Anbar Province.

Iraqi fighter jets also pounded a Daesh factory for armoring vehicles in the town of al-Qa’im in Anbar, leaving all the terrorists inside dead. Reports did not say how many terrorists were killed.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s al-Sumaria news website quoted a local source as saying that more than half of the Daesh terrorists in the city of Hawijah in Kirkuk Province have fled the city as Iraqi security forces are approaching the area.

The unnamed source said on Sunday that some of the terrorists have shaved off their beards and headed toward remote areas as the Iraqi security forces are closing in on the vicinity of the city.

A security source had said on Saturday that Daesh is transferring the families of its commanders from Hawijah to Nineveh.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive in the country in June 2014. The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.

The Iraqi army together with fighters from the Popular Mobilization units has been engaged in operations to liberate militant-held regions.