Homeland Security Network Blog
Iraqi PM Orders 'Unconventional Methods' To Stop Islamic State Attacks
Al Monitor
Iraqi PM Orders 'Unconventional Methods' To Stop Islamic State Attacks
by Shelly Kettleson
December 22, 2022
BAGHDAD — A large ‘martyr’s photo’ has been placed outside the headquarters of the Ali al-Akbar Brigade in this southern Shia-dominant city in commemoration of one of the group’s unit commanders, who was killed farther north in the Diyala governorate in late November in an Islamic State attack.
The Ali al-Akbar Brigade is part of the country’s official, government-salaried Popular Mobilization Units.
As the traditional Islamic 40 days of mourning for the man continue, so do attacks in both Diyala and neighboring Kirkuk. Multiple members of the country’s security forces have been killed.
Three Iraqi army soldiers were killed in an attack in the Kirkuk governorate late in the evening of Dec. 21, a security source in Kirkuk contacted by Al-Monitor on Dec. 22 said. It was the third deadly IS attack in a week in the two provinces.
No news of the attack had been published by the Iraqi government-linked Security Media Cell by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, a major operation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has resulted in the arrest of dozens of alleged IS fighters and organizers, including one tasked with recruiting Kurdish fighters for the international terrorist organization.
The Iraqi prime minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces Mohammed Shia al-Sudani chaired a meeting Dec. 21, in Baghdad on the recent security developments in these two governorates, Diyala and Kirkuk.
According to a statement issued by his office, Sudani ordered commanders to “change the military tactics used in the areas where there are remnants of the terrorist gangs and to adopt unconventional methods of fighting in a way that weakens [IS] terrorist gangs' capabilities and limits their movement.”
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.
