Army forces kill 52 ISIL Takfiri militants in Iraq

According to a statement released by the Iraqi Interior Ministry, 24 ISIL extremists were killed and 19 others were injured after Iraqi fighter jets carried out precision strikes in the town of al-Qaim, located about 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, on Thursday.

A senior ISIL militant commander along with two of his comrades were also killed in a heavy exchange of fire between Iraqi soldiers and ISIL terrorists in the town of al-Karma, located 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad. The unnamed ISIL commander was responsible for organizing militant attacks in the area.

Meanwhile, 25 ISIL Takfiris, among them two snipers, were killed as Iraqi troopers launched another offensive in Karma.

Iraqi forces also destroyed 14 terrorist hideouts, a car rigged with explosives, and two pickups mounted with heavy machine guns. They also cleared five booby-trapped houses and defused 20 improvised explosives devices.

In an earlier development, a local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ISIL Takfiris rounded up 12 civilians in the al-Zaab district of Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk, and a firing squad then used machine guns to shoot the hostages dead.

The bodies reportedly remained lying in the open. ISIL terrorists later ordered the victims’ relatives not to hold funeral processions for those killed, warning that anyone who violates the rule will be punished.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been in chaos since the ISIL terrorists started their campaign of terror in early June 2014. The terrorists are in control of the second-largest city of Mosul and they have swept through parts of the country’s heartland.

Since then, Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen in operations to drive the terrorists out of the areas they have seized.