Iraqi soldier, Daesh militants killed in army raid
After clashes with Iraqi military in Kirkuk region, Daesh suspects detonated their explosive belts.
An Iraqi special forces soldier fires a rifle as other soldiers runs across a street during a battle against Daesh in Mosul, Iraq March 1, 2017. / Photo: Reuters Archive
An Iraqi soldier was killed and an officer wounded during a counter-terrorism raid in Iraq that also killed three suspected Daesh members, Baghdad's security forces have said.
Sunday's military operation in Kirkuk province, north of the Iraqi capital, targeted "three figures of the terrorist group Daesh in the Turkelan region," the security forces said in a statement.
After the suspected Daesh members were identified, Iraqi troops approached and a clash erupted, added the statement late Sunday.
The militants "were surrounded and killed, the explosive belts they were wearing were detonated", it said.
Daesh planned an attack during Eid al-Adha
Speaking to press, Nebil Issa, Deputy Commander of Kirkuk Operations, said they received intelligence information that the terrorists were planning to infiltrate first the Turkalan village in the province and then the Kirkuk city centre.
Stating that a clash broke out between security forces and the terrorists during the large-scale operation they launched near Turkalan village, İsa added that a soldier lost his life and three terrorists were killed in the clash.
Isa underlined that the terrorists were planning to infiltrate the city center and carry out a bloody action during the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Daesh seized swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" which they ruled with brutality before their defeat in late 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition.
Despite the setbacks, the group can still call on an underground network of militants to carry out attacks on both sides of the porous border, the United Nations says.
On June 11, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others wounded in a pre-dawn attack west of Kirkuk blamed on Daesh.
In April, the international coalition set up to fight Daesh said there had been a reduction in the group's attacks in both Iraq and Syria.
In March, a senior Iraqi military official said Daesh had between 400 and 500 active members in the country.
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