Over the
past month there has been an increase in attacks by extremists in
various parts of Iraq, but in particular, on the outskirts of cities
that were previously controlled by the extremist group known as the
Islamic State. “We have recorded dozens of terrorist activities
in various parts of the country,” a senior officer in the
defence ministry in Baghdad told NIQASH, off the record because he
was not authorised to comment on the matter. “Especially on the
outskirts of the liberated cities – east of Diyala, south of Kirkuk
and in the Anbar desert as well as north of Salahaddin. We see it as
a sign that the Islamic State has a plan to destabilize these
cities.”
There
have been surprise attacks on army patrols, ambushes on highways
connecting cities and suicide bombers.
“Today
the Islamic State group is very weak and it cannot launch large scale
attacks in the way that it used to,” the senior officer
explained. “The army is undertaking a wide scale operation to
prevent the extremists from re-grouping but there are still hundreds
of extremist fighters who are free and who wish to re-establish
violence.”
Last
week, soldiers were killed in an ambush on the highway between Balad
Roz and Mandali, two towns in Diyala. In the same week a family was
killed on the highway between Baghdad and Kirkuk. Both incidents were
carried out by extremists disguised as members of the Iraqi military,
pretending to be staffing fake checkpoints on the road.
There
are two important points becoming clear after the uptick in attacks
by the Islamic State, or IS, group. While Iraqi pro-government forces
have made it their responsibility to secure cities and city centres,
they have not been able to – or have neglected to – secure the
outskirts. Having said that, securing population centres’ outskirts
has always been an issue for government forces. Often these are
desert or agricultural areas, which are difficult to control, and
often the pro-government forces lack decent intelligence in these
areas too.
Secondly,
the fact that the IS group still has the ability and opportunity to
launch attacks is worrying, especially after the overwhelming defeat
they have suffered during the last year; they have clearly adapted to
their new circumstances.
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