Four commanders from the radical group of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) were killed in northwestern Iraq as a result of airstrikes by the coalition’s warplanes and ground operations by the Iraqi army, local sources reported on Saturday.
Media activist J.Z. reported that the ISIS insurgent commanders Shaker Wahib, Kaddouri Hamid Farraj, Louay al-Kubaisi, and Abu Hajer at-Tounisi were killed by the coalition’s airstrikes and Iraqi army attacks in northwestern Iraq.
“ISIS senior leader Shaker Wahib al-Dulaimi [aka Abu Wahib] was targeted in a military operation by the Iraqi joint forces on the highway near al-Rutba area in the province of Anbar on the Syrian border,” the source reported, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He pointed out that the operation also targeted a car parked near the house of Kaddouri Hamid Farraj [an ISIS military commander] beside the cemetery of Mosul and killed him along with several companions.
Louay al-Kubaisi and Abu Hajer at-Tounisi, also prominent members of ISIS, were killed in airstrikes in Mosul of Nineveh province.
Sources close to ISIS reported that the four men were among the most “dangerous” insurgent leaders in ISIS’s ranks, known as masterminds of the ISIS-led offensives against the Iraqi joint forces in Anbar.
Last Saturday, Iraqi army forces shelled ISIS strongholds in the northern province of Nineveh, killing the ISIS senior official and the oil minister Wahid as-Sabaawi, according to military sources. As-Sabaawi was killed during bombardment by the Iraqi army’s 15th Artillery Squad on the outskirts of al-Qayyarah area south of Mosul.
Last month, coalition forces conducted several airstrikes in the Iraqi province of Anbar, killing Mohammed Khalaf al-Satouri, a senior official in the ISIS group along with four of his companions in the western district of Hit in Anbar, according to official sources. Earlier in March, Thaher Mohammed Salman al-Sabawi, a top ISIS commander in Nineveh province, was reported dead along with other militants from the group, according to Iraqi security sources.
Over the past few months, the coalition’s airstrikes have killed dozens of top ISIS insurgents across Syria and Iraq besides hitting tactical units, Sharia Courts and oil fields held by ISIS. The hardline group currently suffers shortage of manpower and financial resources due to the intensified airstrikes and ground attacks by rival forces.
source : abna24
