Baghdad: According to officials, an army officer and four soldiers lost their lives in an assault on their base situated in Iraq’s central Salaheddin province on Monday.

Iraq’s ministry of defence stated that the officer and several members of his unit were killed “while repelling a terrorist assault.”

A security source reported, “Daesh militants initiated an offensive” on an army base in the village of Mtebija, resulting in the deaths of four soldiers and the regiment’s commander. “Daesh” is an alternate term for the Islamic State group.

The extremist organization seized significant territories in Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” and unleashing widespread terror.

Iraqi forces, supported by a US-led military coalition, ousted the group from Iraq in 2017, while US-backed Kurdish forces eliminated its last Syrian stronghold in 2019.

Nevertheless, remnants of the group persist in executing lethal hit-and-run operations and ambushes, predominantly from remote and desert regions.

In a January report, the United Nations estimated that IS maintains “between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters” across Iraq and Syria.

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