6 killed in IS suicide attack in Iraq’s Salahudin province

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BAGHDAD, Aug 22, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – Five paramilitary Sunni tribal
fighters battling the Islamic State (IS) extremists, and a journalist were
killed on Tuesday in a suicide attack targeting their base in Iraq’s central
province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt at an outpost manned by the
anti-IS fighters at a village near the city of Shirqat, some 280 km north of
the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing five of the fighters and a journalist who
was covering their activities, Mohammed al-Jubouri told Xinhua.

Up to 30 paramilitary fighters were wounded by the blast, including Adnan
al-Ghannam, a former member of parliament, Jubouri said, adding that some of
the wounded are in critical conditions.

The attack came at the beginning of the four-day holiday of Eid al-Adha
festival, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the spiritual
peak of the annual pilgrimage.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi
security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in
2017.

However, small groups and individuals of extremist militants melted or
regrouped in urban and rugged areas, and are carrying out attacks against the
security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt
them down.