Another IS bomb expert dies as landmine planting goes awry in Salahuddin


An Islamic State bomb whiz died while planting an explosive device east of Salahuddin, according to a local source who spoke Saturday.

The source told Alsumaria News that the militant, nicknamed al-Aaraj (lame), an Iraqi national, died planting the bomb on the side of a country road in Sebeyat, on the borders with Diyala.

Incidents of IS bomb makers dying while implanting explosives targeting security troops have been recurrent.

The village of Sebeyat had been empty of residents since IS fighters invaded it three years earlier, the source explained. Though the group was driven out of the village, a few months earlier, no permanent security presence was ensured, which encouraged the militants to return, he added.

IS, currently struggling to defend its last few havens in Mosul, its proclaimed capital since 2014, is still present at a few regions in Salahuddin, Anbar, Diyala and Kirkuk. The Iraqi government, at present giving full attention to the Mosul battle, is expected to aim at IS havens at other provinces after that campaign.

On Thursday, Udai al-Khadran, mayor of al-Khales town, north of Baqubah, Diyala, told Alsumaria News that IS redeployed its fighters at the villages near the borders with Salahuddin which had been empty of residents and lacking security presence for three years

https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/an...ry-salahuddin/