Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribesmen have been pictured lording it over the bodies of Islamic State militants after killing them in a fire-fight. The jihadists died after launching an attack on a military post which wounded an Iraqi governor and a senior colleague.
One image shows a smug Iraqi flashing victory signs while putting his foot on the chest of a dead extremist. In others, Iraqi troops are seen smiling as they gather around the corpses.
It came after an attack by ISIS on a military post during the visit of
Ahmed al-Dulaimi, the governor of Iraq's Anbar province, amid running gun battles for control of the
Haditha Dam. Dulaimi was injured during the attack, which also wounded
Abdulhakim al-Jughaifi, the administrative official responsible for Haditha, and seven soldiers, shortly after the town of Barwanah was retaken from militants.
A suicide bomber then struck the convoy carrying Dulaimi toward Haditha for treatment, killing one soldier and wounding six others.
Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi later tweeted that he was not seriously hurt. The IS force trying to capture the dam was wiped out with the help of U.S. air strikes that widened what Barack Obama called a campaign to ultimately defeat the jihadist movement.
The militants could have opened or damaged the dam, flooding wide areas as far as Baghdad's international airport, where hundreds of US personnel are stationed, national security council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
US defence secretary
Chuck Hagel, travelling in Georgia, said the Iraqi government had asked the U.S. to launch the air-strikes. The six-month-old battle for control of the Haditha Dam has been a rare case of co-operation between local Sunni tribes and the Shi'ite-led Iraqi military.
The Juhayfa tribe in Haditha has a long-standing fight with the Islamic State, which split with its parent organization Al Qaeda last year.
Source: DailyMail UK
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