Muqdadiyah (Iraq), Beirut: Iraqi forces have “liberated” Diyala from the Daesh militant group, retaking all populated areas of the eastern province, a top army officer said on Monday.
Iraqi forces have regained “complete control of all the cities and districts and subdistricts of Diyala province,” Staff Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Al Zaidi said.
The last battle for a populated part of the province took place from Friday to Monday in the Muqdadiyah area, northeast of Diyala capital Baquba.
Al Zaidi and district council chief Adnan Al Tamimi both said that Iraqi forces were in control of the entire area, which includes the town of Muqdadiyah and various villages, where the fighting took place.
Al Zaidi said that 58 members of pro-government forces were killed and 248 were wounded in the fighting, while “more than 50” Daesh fighters died.
The general said that there will still be further fighting against Daesh in the rural Hamreen mountains, which stretch across multiple provinces, including Diyala.
In Syria, Kurdish fighters expelled Daesh from Kobani after four months of fightng, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, dealing a key symbolic blow to the group’ ambitions.
The monitor said fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) had pushed Daesh militants out.
“They (Daesh) lost hundreds of fighters, millions of dollars of weapons, and the image that wherever Daesh goes no one can stop them,” Kurdish affairs analyst Mutlu Civiroglu said.
