PMU Forces Kill Daesh Ringleader in Iraq’s Diyala

Sadiq al-Hosseini, a senior official of Hashd al-Sha’abi, said that the Daesh ringleader was killed in Haoz al-Waqf area, northeast of Diyala, Almaalomah news agency reported on Sunday.

He said that precise intelligence collected or received by the PMU led to the killing of the terror leader in the area, which is some 25 kilometers northeast of Baqubah, the provincial capital, stressing that with his killing, Daesh suffered yet another blow from the Iraqi forces.

Yilmaz al-Najjar, the PMU’s commander in northern Iraq, said that Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters managed to arrest three Daesh commanders in the north-central Kirkuk province, after gathering precise intelligence, Press TV reported.

Daesh has intensified its attacks in Iraq amid Baghdad’s call on the US to pull out its forces from the Arab country.

In a vote on January 5, the Iraqi parliament called for an end to the presence of all foreign troops, including Americans.

The vote came two days after the US military – acting on US President Donald Trump’s order – launched a fatal drone strike on senior Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani upon his arrival in the Iraqi capital at the invitation of the Baghdad government.

The attack also claimed the lives of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of the PMU, and eight other Iranian and Iraqi people.

Washington has threatened sanctions should US troops be expelled instead of heeding the Iraqi parliament’s call to end the occupation of the country.