29 October 2017•Update: 30 October 2017
By Amir al-Saadi
BAGHDAD
The Iraqi army has called on Daesh militants to surrender amid an ongoing military operation to dislodge the terrorist group from their last stronghold in the western Anbar province.
Iraqi planes dropped thousands of leaflets on Daesh-held areas in Anbar, calling on the militants to lay down their arms and surrender to the Iraqi forces, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Iraqi army began a wide-scale military campaign to liberate Anbar province's Rawa an al-Qaim towns, the group’s last enclaves in Iraq.
Brigadier-General Yahya Rasul, spokesman for the Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), earlier said Iraqi forces had killed 75 Daesh militants during operations in Anbar in the last 72 hours.
Meanwhile, Abu Ali al-Kufi, a commander of the pro-government Hashd al-Shaabi militia, said Daesh had planted booby-traps and explosive devices on roads and crossings to al-Qaim.
He said bomb disposal teams have managed to defuse the explosives and make safe routes for the forces.
“Our forces are waiting for the zero hour to attack on terrorists in their last hideouts,” he said.
Last month, Iraqi security and tribal forces captured Anah town in Anbar from Daesh while the terrorist group has been controlling Rawa and al-Qaim since mid-2014.
