Iraqi president slams ‘despicable’ deadly Daesh attack on village

MURTADHA AL-SUDANI/ANADOLU AGENCY

Iraqi President Barham Salih denounced an attack by Daesh terrorist group on a village in eastern Iraq as a “despicable attempt to destabilize” the country.

The National Iraqi News Agency (NINA), citing a security source, said that 11 people, including a woman, were killed and 20 others wounded in the attack in Diyala Province on Tuesday, Press TV reported.

The source said the casualties took place when the Daesh terrorists, armed with automatic weapons, stormed the village of Al-Hawasha, near the town of Miqdadiya.

The source described the assault as “the largest incident of its kind after 2014," when the area was invaded by the terrorist outfit.

“The cowardly terrorist incident against our people in Diyala is a despicable attempt to destabilize the country. It is a reminder of the need to unite the ranks, support our security services, close loopholes, and not underestimate the threat of Daesh and the importance of continuing the national effort to end its remnants in all the region,” Salih said in an Arabic-language tweet.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi blamed the “heinous” act of terror and promised to hold the perpetrators to account.

“We stand firm on our pledge that we will continue to chase terrorists inside and outside Iraq. The Miqdadiya crime will not go unpunished,” Kadhimi wrote in a tweet. “Their heinous crimes strengthen our determination to uproot them from Mesopotamia.”

The Iraqi prime minister announced earlier in the month that security forces had detained Sami Jasim, a top member of the Daesh group and deputy of slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December 2017 after a three-year counter-terrorism military campaign, which also had the support of neighboring Iran.

The terror outfit’s remnants, though, keep staging sporadic attacks across Iraq, attempting to regroup and unleash fresh violence.

Daesh has intensified its terrorist attacks in Iraq since January 2020, when the United States assassinated top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Hashd al-Sha'abi deputy commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, near Baghdad International Airport.