Iraq: Iraq kills more than 279 militants in fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
Iraq’s armed forces attacked positions held by Sunni Muslim militants to try to halt their advance, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deployed the air force to defend his Shiite-led government.
The army killed more than 279 “terrorists” with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and destroyed 50 of the group’s vehicles in the past 24 hours, army spokesman Qassim Ata said in a televised news conference today. “The security situation is improving” and government forces are conducting pre-emptive operations in Baghdad, which is under their control, he said.
The government is seeking to regain territory held by the breakaway al-Qaeda group, whose advance put in doubt al-Maliki’s rule over a unified Iraq, as OPEC’s second-largest oil producer slides toward civil war. Three years after the U.S. withdrew forces from Iraq, army forces melted away in the face of ISIL militants, who captured the northern city of Mosul last week.