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BAGHDAD: Iraqi air strikes killed nine suspected fighters of the militant Islamic State group, including four Lebanese, in retaliation for an IS attack on Iraqi army barracks earlier this month, officials said on Sunday.
IS gunmen in Iraq broke into a barracks in the mountainous al-Azim district outside the town of Baqouba on Jan 21, killed a guard and shot dead 11 soldiers as they slept.
It was one of the boldest attacks by the militants in recent weeks and came amid an uptick in violence that stoked fears the group has been re-energised.
Yehia Rasool, the spokesman for Iraq’s commander in chief, said the joint military operations room and the air force identified the cell behind the attack as its members hid in al-Azim, north of Baghdad. Three air strikes were launched that killed the nine militants, he said.
A security official said that four among the killed were Lebanese, natives of the northern town of Tripoli.
Tripoli is Lebanon’s second largest city and the country’s most impoverished. It has been prone to violence and militants who, inspired by the militant Islamic State group, launched attacks against Lebanon’s army in 2014 in the most serious bout of violence in the city.
As Lebanon faces an unprecedented convergence of crisesincluding a swift descent into poverty, many fear militants may seek to exploit discontent among the city’s majority Sunni residents.
Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV gave a higher death toll, saying that five Lebanese were killed in Iraq. One family member appealed in the broadcast to Lebanese authorities to facilitate return of the bodies.
Also Sunday, Iraqi anti-terrorism units carried out an inspection campaign in seven prisons in Iraq holding IS militants.
The move comes after a brazen prison attack IS militants carried out in northeastern Syria that lasted for over a week.