International Coalition’s air jets launched air raids against the strongholds of ISIS extremist group on Friday leading to the killing of the group’s military leader of the city’s west bank. Meanwhile Iraqi Federal Police announced the killing of a number of ISIS leaders, including a Russian citizen. As Iraqi Interior Ministry revealed that it received the Qatari fishermen kidnapped since over a year in the Iraqi desert.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said, in a statement, that Twenty-six hostages, including Qatar ruling family members, were freed on Friday after being held for 16 months by unidentified gunmen in Iraq. According to sources, the men were freed and handed over to Iraq's interior ministry but gave no further details on the release of the hostages, who were seized in December 2015 while on a hunting trip near the border with Saudi Arabia.
An Iraqi security official said Iraq was verifying the identity of the men and would hand them over to Qatar's ambassador to Baghdad. About 100 armed men seized the group of Qatari hunters, which included royal family members and also other nationals, from a desert camp for falcon hunters in southern Iraq. A Qatari royal and a Pakistani man were later freed.
The release of the remaining hostages comes days after a deal was announced in Syria for the evacuation of Syrian civilians and fighters from four besieged towns, which British newspaper the Guardian reported Qatar had helped mediate in exchange for the freeing of the hunters.
The abduction ignited months of negotiations between Iran, Qatar and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, according to an Arab diplomat in Doha.
On the military side, Iraqi military intelligence revealed that International Coalition’s fighter jets carried out air raids against the strongholds of extremist ISIS group in Mousl, leading to the killing of the city’s military leader loyal to ISIS called Abu Abdullah. Meanwhile, the federal police revealed that they launched a military operation in Thawra district leading to the killing of 14 extremists and destruction of eight bombing machines.
In Beji, two suicide attackers loyal to ISIS were killed in an overnight foiled attack against a village in the city of Baiji, Salahuddin, according to a police official. Saad Nafous al-Hamad, commander of Baiji police, said the attackers targeted the village of Malha, but were held off by police and tribal troops at the dawn of Friday.
Al-Hamad said two of the attackers, vested with explosive belts, were killed, while three civilians were lightly wounded. Islamic State has stepped up attacks in Salahuddin and neighboring Diyala over the past months as Iraqi government forces continue to make gains in Mosul, IS’s largest stronghold in Iraq, since a security campaign launched in October to retake the city.
Observers believe IS attacks outside Mosul aim at distracting security attention from Mosul and to make up for losses. The Iraqi government is expected to launch further campaigns to retake areas still held by the militants in Salahuddin, Anbar, Diyala and Kirkuk. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) says 1115 people died in violence across the country during March.
On Thursday, Udai al-Kahdran, mayor of al-Khales town in Diyala, said in a press statement the borders between Salahuddin and Diyala continue to pose a security challenge that requires military action to eliminate the group’s pockets at the abandoned villages.
On the political side, Iraq’s Shiite National Alliance expressed its resentment over the statement delivered by Turkey’s President Recep Tayeb Erdogan in which he described Popular Mobilization Forces as a terrorist organization. The alliance said that Erdogan’s statement is considered clear interference in the Iraqi internal affairs.