2 paramilitary fighters killed in bomb attack in eastern Iraq

BAGHDAD: AUGUST 17 – Two paramilitary tribal fighters were killed and four others wounded on Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a provincial police source said.

The incident took place in the morning when the bomb exploded near a vehicle of tribal fighters, who are part of the government-backed Hashd Shaabi brigades, northeast of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the police source Alaa al-Saadi told Xinhua.

The fighters were on an operation when Iraqi security forces advanced into rural areas in the northern and eastern parts of the province to hunt down militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, al-Saadi added.

During the past months, IS militants have intensified their attacks on the Iraqi security forces in the province the militants had previously controlled, leaving dozens dead and wounded.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces defeated the IS militants in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since melted into urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.

-Xinhua