12 September 2017•Update: 13 September 2017
BAGHDAD
At least 14 Daesh terrorists were killed Tuesday in airstrikes carried out by a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province, according to local security sources.
“An aircraft belonging to the international coalition targeted a Daesh bomb factory in Hawija’s Riyadh district southwest of Kirkuk city,” Khalid al-Numan, a Kirkuk police officer, told Anadolu Agency.
The airstrikes, he said, had left at least 14 Daesh militants dead.
“Intelligence sources from inside the targeted area also confirmed that dozens of other Daesh militants suffered injuries,” al-Numan added.
The U.S.-led coalition, for its part, has yet to comment on the reported airstrikes.
In a related development Tuesday, a Baghdad-based security source said that one Hashd al-Shaabi fighter had been killed in a bomb attack south of the capital.
“A Hashd al-Shaabi patrol came under attack Tuesday in the Arab Jabour district south of Baghdad, killing one fighter and injuring three others,” Baghdad Police Captain Nazhan al-Khader told Anadolu Agency.
A largely Shia fighting force, the Hashd al-Shaabi was incorporated into the Iraqi army last year.
While no group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Baghdad, the authorities typically blame such attacks on Daesh, which has recently suffered a string of defeats after overrunning much of Iraq in 2014.
Reporting by Hussein al-Amir and Amir al-Hassani; Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg
