Iraqi fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have retaken control of four villages as part of a large-scale military operation to dislodge the remnants of the DaeshTakfiri terrorist group from their hideouts in the desert in northern Iraq.
Iraqi fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have retaken control of four villages as part of a large-scale military operation to dislodge the remnants of the DaeshTakfiri terrorist group from their hideouts in the desert in northern Iraq.
The media bureau of the volunteer pro-government forces, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, announced in a statement on Saturday that they had recaptured the villages of Shaheriyah, Tar al-Baghal, al-Hajal and WadiazQaytoun southwest of Hawijah, located 45 kilometers west of the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Arabic-language al-Forat news agency reported.
The development came only a day after the commander of Upper Euphrates and al-Jazira Liberation Operations, Major General Abdul Amir Yarallah, said the Iraqi army, Hashd al-Sha’abi brigades and federal police forces had established control over 45 villages as they cleared some 2,400 square kilometers of land from the Daesh extremists.
The troops destroyed two car bomb-making sites, five booby-trapped vehicles and two vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, along with detonating and defusing more than 450 explosive devices, Yarallah noted.
