BAGHDAD: High-ranking Iraqi security officials say up to 7,000 Daesh group affiliates remain in Iraq after the fall of Mosul, where the group’s leader declared the self-styled caliphate three years ago.
Three intelligence and defense officials also told The Associated Press there are an estimated 4,000 militants in addition to 3,000 supporters who were employed by the group and received salaries.
In Syria, there are up to 7,000 militants and 5,000 supporters, they say.
The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
In the summer last year, the Pentagon claimed the military campaigns in Iraq and Syria had taken 45,000 enemy combatants off the battlefield and reduced the total number of Daesh fighters to about 15,000.
Officials say 7,000 Daesh affiliates remain in Iraq
Officials say 7,000 Daesh affiliates remain in Iraq
UN chief says those behind ‘unacceptable’ Homs attack must face justice
- France says the "terror" attack is designed to destabilize the country
UNITED NATIONS/PARIS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the deadly attack on Friday prayers at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. He stresses that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
France also condemned the attack, calling it an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country.
The attack “is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria and the transition government,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
It condemned what it said was an attempt to “compromise ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability.”
The attack, during Friday prayers, was the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, the extremist group Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
