An ambush by the Islamic State group killed 10 members of the security forces Sunday in western Iraq, where federal and other forces recently ramped up an anti-jihadist offensive.
A local commander said the attackers were disguised as military and took advantage of a sandstorm to ambush a convoy near the town of Rutba, a remote outpost on the road to Jordan.
"Daesh (IS) members armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers attacked civilian and military vehicles carrying soldiers near Rutba," an army lieutenant colonel said.
"They killed at least 10 and wounded 20," he told AFP. Other officials confirmed the attack and the casualty toll.
Rutba lies about 390 kilometres (240 miles) west of Baghdad in the vast province of Anbar and is the last sizeable town before the border with Jordan.
Anbar is a sprawling desert province traversed by the Euphrates and borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
It has long been an insurgent stronghold, and IS already controlled parts of it when it swept through Iraq in 2014 to take over around a third of the country.
Pro-government forces have since retaken most towns and cities in Anbar, but the jihadists still control some areas near the Syrian border and have desert hideouts from which they harass federal forces.
The army officer said the victims of the attack were members of the border guard, Anbar police and the army.
"The Daesh members were wearing military uniforms and driving military vehicles. They set up a rogue checkpoint on the main road near Rutba," a border guard commander said.
He said five of the 10 killed in the ambush were border guards.
According to the mayor of Rutba, Imad al-Dulaimi, the ambush was carried out at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) in an area just east of Rutba on the main road from the provincial capital Ramadi.
He added that three more members of the security forces were missing and feared kidnapped.
Government forces have over the past six months focused their efforts on retaking Mosul, the large northern city which was the de facto Iraqi capital of IS's self-proclaimed "caliphate".
But with the help of tribal fighters and forces from the US-led coalition, they have simultaneously pressed an offensive pushing out from Haditha, a city in western Anbar which the jihadists never took.
According to Iraqi military sources, new contingents of US special forces were recently flown to the nearby Al-Asad airbase to support the latest push in western Anbar.
The goal of the offensive is to retake the border town of Al-Qaim, which is still controlled by IS, and other nearby areas along the Euphrates which were once safe havens for top jihadist leaders.
According to unconfirmed reports, jihadist supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself was recently spotted in the area.
Huge crowds of Shiite faithful throng Baghdad shrine
Baghdad (AFP) April 23, 2017 –
Hundreds of thousands of Shiite faithful thronged the mausoleum of Imam Kadhim in Baghdad Sunday for the climax of a week-long pilgrimage that saw millions converge on the Iraqi capital.
Beating their heads and chests, crowds of pilgrims lurched and swerved to try to touch a mock coffin being carried to the shrine in the northern neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah.
"This visit means a lot to us, it is about showing respect for the suffering of the imam and the injustice he faced and about reaffirming our dedication to him," said Ahmad Jamal, a 28-year-old civil servant in the crowd of pilgrims.
Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam, died in 799 AD. The commemoration has in recent years turned into a huge event that brings the Iraqi capital to a standstill for days.
The organisers estimated that around 10 million people came to Kadhimiyah for the commemoration in recent years, which is still less than the 17 million faithful said to have visited the southern shrine city of Karbala for the Arbaeen pilgrimage last year.
Shiite religious events and sites are considered prime potential targets for suicide attacks by the Islamic State group and huge security deployments were visible across Baghdad.
Many of the main thoroughfares have been blocked to traffic for days to minimise the risk of car bombs and allow the pilgrims to reach the shrine. Some of them walk several days, mostly from southern Iraq.
Qatari hunting party kidnapped in Iraq freed
A Qatari hunting party kidnapped in southern Iraq in late 2015 has been freed and was flown back to Doha on Friday, Iraqi officials said.
Sources close to the negotiations said their release was part of a far-reaching regional deal involving the evacuation of civilians in neighbouring Syria.
"The interior ministry has received the Qatari hunters, all 26 of them," the minister's adviser, … read more
