Army officer and four soldiers killed in suspected ISIS attack in Iraq

Security forces say they repelled the attack but suffered several casualties in the process

An Iraqi army officer and four soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on ISIS in central Iraq, a government statement and a security official said on Tuesday.

The attack took place in a rural area between Diyala and Salahuddin provinces late on Monday. The area has been a hotbed of activity for militant cells years after Iraq declared victory over ISIS in 2017.

In a statement, the Iraqi Defence Ministry mourned the loss of Col Khalid Naji Wassak, a regiment commander, and “a number of heroic fighters … as a result of their response to a terrorist attack”.

Security forces repelled the attack but suffered several casualties in the process.

Maj Gen Tahseen Al Khafaji, spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, later said four soldiers were killed alongside Col Wassak and five others wounded.

ISIS did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

In the summer of 2014, ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria, declaring a caliphate that spanned areas of both countries.

Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, reclaimed all ISIS-held territory in Iraq in late 2017, after three years of fighting.

However, the terrorist group still carries out hit-and-run attacks, particularly in the vast desert regions of northern and western Iraq, near the border with Syria.

Baghdad is now looking to draw down the US-led international coalition that helped defeat ISIS and wants it to remain in the country in an advisory role, saying local security forces can handle the threat themselves.