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Clashes between Iraqi Forces and ISIS Leave at Least 7 Dead

Iraqi forces search the Tarmiyah area, north of Baghdad, on February 20, 2021, following clashes with ISIS fighters. (AFP)
Iraqi forces search the Tarmiyah area, north of Baghdad, on February 20, 2021, following clashes with ISIS fighters. (AFP)
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Clashes between Iraqi Forces and ISIS Leave at Least 7 Dead

Iraqi forces search the Tarmiyah area, north of Baghdad, on February 20, 2021, following clashes with ISIS fighters. (AFP)
Iraqi forces search the Tarmiyah area, north of Baghdad, on February 20, 2021, following clashes with ISIS fighters. (AFP)

Iraqi security forces clashed with the ISIS group north of Baghdad on Saturday, leaving at least five extremists and two security personnel dead.

A joint force of army troops and state-sponsored tribal fighters raided an ISIS hideout in the leafy plains of Tarmiyah, according to a statement from the military.

"We had learnt that ISIS was holding a meeting there to plan for attacks on the capital Baghdad," Ahmad Salim, head of the Baghdad Operations Command, said near the site of the fighting.

Ensuing clashes killed five ISIS fighters and two tribal pro-government forces, the military statement said.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with top military commanders as troops combed the fields and agricultural lands around Tarmiyah.

The new raid comes nearly one month to the day after twin suicide bombers killed more than 30 people in the packed Tayaran Square, the bloodiest such attack in Baghdad in three years.

Security sources said the two extremists had infiltrated the city from the north.

A few days later, nearly a dozen fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were killed in an ISIS ambush -- also north of the capital.

Since then, security forces have ramped up their efforts to hunt ISIS sleeper cells there, with Kadhimi announcing the killing of Abu Yasser al-Issawi, identified as the top ISIS figure in Iraq, on January 28.

In early February, security forces killed another ISIS leader who they believed helped transport the twin bombers into Baghdad.

Iraq declared ISIS territorially defeated in late 2017 after a three-year fight aided by US-led coalition air strikes and military advisors.

ISIS attacks in urban areas have dramatically dropped since then, but Iraqi troops have continued to battle sleeper cells in the country's mountainous and desert areas.

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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital.
War has been raging in Sudan since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighborhoods have been judged at risk of famine, reported Reuters.
"In the 20 months MSF teams have worked alongside hospital staff and volunteers, Bashair Hospital has experienced repeated incidents of armed fighters entering the hospital with weapons and threatening medical staff, often demanding fighters be treated before other patients," MSF said in a statement.
"Despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders, these attacks have continued in recent months. MSF has now taken the very difficult decision to suspend all medical activities in the hospital."
The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket.
Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence.
"Sometimes dozens of people arrived at the hospital at the same time after shelling or airstrikes on residential areas and markets," MSF said in the statement, citing an incident on Sunday where an airstrike one kilometer away drove 50 people to the emergency room, 12 of them already dead.