Over two dozen Daesh remnants slain in Iraqi army airstrikes, ground operations

More than two dozen members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have been killed as Iraqi air forces and government troops launched separate counter-terrorism operations across the crisis-hit Arab country to flush out the last remnants of the extremist outfit.

Major Alaa al-Saadi from Diyala Operations Command said four Daesh Takfiris were killed when Iraqi military aircraft targeted a militant hideout in Hamrin basin, situated 90 kilometers north of Baqubah.

Saadi added that Iraqi forces were continuing their surveillance operations across the area to track remaining Daesh militants and destroy their positions.

Separately, a security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the independent Arabic-language National Iraqi News Agency that members of the Federal Police force, backed by Iraqi Air Force jets, carried out numerous operations in the Badush and Hatra districts of the northern province of Nineveh, killing over 20 Daesh terrorists in the process.

The source warned that sleeper cells of the extremist group were still active in some parts of Nineveh.

Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, he formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in Iraq.

In the run-up to Mosul’s liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.