Alwaght- Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) says it has fend off an attack by ISIS terrorist group against an area south of Samarra city.
In a statement on Friday, the PMF said the ISIS elements were trying to infiltrate through Tal al-Zahab region, south of Samarra, and block a strategic road to the city of al-Balad and the Shrine of Syed Muhammad bin Imam Hadi.
However, it added, the terrorists were detected with the use of thermal cameras, and the PMF repelled their offensive.
Earlier this month, the Popular Mobilization Forces deployed massive forces in Diyala province near Iran's border to counter ISIS terrorists in joint operations with the Iraqi army.
The move came after PMF terrorists attacked an important oil-rich area east of the province on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
Several members of the popular forces were killed and wounded in the terrorist attack on the city of Diyala.
It was the biggest deployment of PMU in the region since 2003 to counter the threat of ISIS.
In another attack this month, at least seven fighters from the PMF lost their lives and several others sustained injuries when a massive bomb explosion struck their convoy in Iraq’s north-central province of Salahuddin.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack, but such assaults bear the hallmark of the PMF Takfiri terrorist group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi stressed on November 5 last year that efforts were underway to find financial sources to support Popular Mobilization Forces.
“Maintaining Popular Mobilization Forces is one of our most important duties, and I strongly support its presence. There are those who are trying to say that Popular Mobilization Forces is temporary, but I emphasize that such a force is a necessity,” Abdul-Mahdi said.
Popular Mobilization fighters have played a major role in the liberation of ISIS-held areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, ever since the terrorists launched an offensive in the country, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.
In November 2016, the Iraqi parliament voted to integrate PMF, which was formed shortly after the emergence of ISIS, into the military.
Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of military operations against ISIS in the country on December 9, 2017.
