The Iraqi Army Brigade 72 and Division 15 of Nineveh Operations Command liberated 200 people, including families and children, in the villages of al-Haj Ali and Mahana, which lie around 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Mosul and in the vicinity of the town of Makhmour.
The development came on the same day as Iraqi fighter jets struck Daesh positions west of al-Siniya district in the northern province of Salahuddin as well as the outskirts of the oil-rich city of Baiji, killing scores of the extremists and destroying their explosive-laden vehicles.
Separately, Iraqi army troopers backed by fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units thwarted a Daesh offensive against the city of al-Saqlawiyah, located 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of the capital. Several Daesh militants were reportedly killed and a car bomb destroyed in the process.
Meanwhile, the Daesh group has executed nearly four dozen of its members in the western province of Anbar on charges of fleeing the battlefield.
A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Daesh extremists killed 45 fellow militants in Mosul by forcing them to sleep in forensic storage refrigerators for 24 hours. Daesh militants then placed the victims’ bodies at the entrance of houses across the city.
The source added that the slain militants were accused of escaping clashes with Iraqi government forces in the city of Hit, which lies 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Anbar’s provincial capital city of Ramadi.
The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh mounted an offensive in June 2014.
The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.
The Iraqi army and fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units have been engaged in operations to liberate militant-held regions.
albawaba.com
