ISIS stepping up attacks in northern Iraq

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a recent rocket attack on an oil refinery in the northern Iraqi province of Saladin.
ISIS also claimed
responsibility for the killing of soldiers and policemen along with local
officials in the nearby Anbar province.
The beheaded bodies of two
villagers were also found in northern Saladin on November 28. The terrorist
organization launched attacks in Anbar, only days after a crossing point on the
border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia was opened. The crossing point was closed
for 30 years.
A group of ISIS terrorists
continues to operate in mountainous areas in Iraq. The terrorists use mountains
in some parts of northern Iraq as hiding places for them.
Meanwhile, Iraqi security
forces succeeded in arresting a large number of local ISIS leaders in the past
period.
The arrests come in the wake
of instructions by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa
al-Kadhimi in May in this regard.
The Iraqi prime minister also issued instructions for
the arrest of some of the commanders of Iraq's militias that stage attacks on
some facilities in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
On November 30, Iraqi security forces launched an
operation in Makhmur Mountains in the northern city
of Erbil. They succeeded in killing six ISIS terrorists, according to Iraqi
Cabinet Spokesman Yahia Rasoul.
He said three of the terrorists were killed in a direct
shootout with the security forces, whereas the remaining three were killed in
airstrikes.