At least 11, including civilians, killed in reported ISIS attack on security post west of Baghdad – report

Five members of a tribal militia and six locals were reportedly killed in an attack on an outpost outside of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The assault was launched by the ISIS terrorist group, AFP reported, citing security sources.

The attack took place in the area of al-Radhwaniya late on Sunday, as militants attempted to take control of a monitoring outpost, overlooking the outskirts west of Baghdad, the agency reported.

The militants descended on the tower in four vehicles, targeting the outpost with grenades and raining down fire on the members of tribal Hashed forces, affiliated with the Iraqi government. The showdown apparently prompted locals to help fend off the onslaught.

"ISIS attacked the monitoring tower, killing five members of the tribal Hashed and six local people who had come to help repel the attack," AFP quoted a security source as saying.

Apart from the 11 people who were killed in the assault, eight others were injured and taken to hospital, according to health officials. The Iraqi Army and police have launched a manhunt for the attackers, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The site of the attack is located some 22km (14 miles) to the south of Baghdad International Airport.

The Iraqi government declared victory over the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) as far back as in December 2017 after three years of fierce fighting with the self-proclaimed “caliphate,” which seized around a third of Iraqi territory in 2014.

While by the end of 2017 the Iraqi government had managed to recapture the swaths of territory once held by jihadists, the occupation by the militants and the bombing campaign by the US-led coalition has left a trail of destruction, with the northern city of Mosul, once home to about 1.8 million people,turning into a pile of ruins and a symbol of devastation suffered by the Iraqi people after it was “liberated” by the international coalition together with the Iraqi military in July 2017.

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