Iraq military strikes al-Qaeda camps in Anbar
Iran Press TV
Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:38PM GMT
Iraqi forces have destroyed two camps belonging to an al-Qaeda-linked militant group in the western province of Anbar, the Defence Ministry says.
The army launched 'successful strikes...resulting in the destruction of two camps in the desert of Anbar,' Defence Ministry Spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said in an statement on Monday.
The assaults came after 18 Iraqi military officers were killed in an ambush on Saturday in the Sunni Muslim-dominated province.
The commander of the army's Seventh Division as well as the commander of its 28th Brigade and several other high-ranking officers were among those killed in the attack.
On Sunday, Askari said photographs and other information pointed to 'the arrival of weapons and advanced equipment from Syria to the desert of western Anbar and the border of Nineveh Province,' encouraging al-Qaeda-linked militants to 'revive some of their camps that were eliminated by security forces in 2008 and 2009.'
'Photographs and intelligence information indicate that whenever there is pressure on armed groups in Syria, they withdraw to Iraq...to regroup and then carry out terrorist operations in the two countries,' Askari added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also warned that an anti-government sit-in site in a city in the Anbar Province has become a "headquarters" for al-Qaeda.
'I say clearly and honestly that the sit-in site in Anbar has turned into a headquarters for the leadership of al-Qaeda,' he said on Sunday.
The Iraqi prime minister called on the Iraqi forces to take a 'firm stance to end" the sit-in in Ramadi which is the largest city in the province.
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