SAMARRA, Iraq: Daesh suicide bombers killed seven members of Iraq’s security forces in an attack on an Iraqi police and army base Wednesday in Baiji, north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry and a local official said.
“Five Daesh suicide bombers ... wearing explosive belts attacked a police and army base at dawn in the Al-Masafi district,” the town’s Mayor Mohammad Mahmoud told AFP.
“Seven members of the security forces were killed and six wounded” in the ensuing firefight, he said.
The ministry’s spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan confirmed the toll and said the “five suicide terrorists” were also killed.
Daesh captured Baiji, a Sunni Arab town around 200 kilometers from the capital, in June 2014 during a lightning offensive that saw the terrorist group rout security forces and grab swathes of Syria and northern Iraq.
Baiji was the scene of some of the longest-running battles between Daesh and Iraqi forces.
The town lies at a major crossroads and its recapture by Iraqi security forces was seen as key to preparing the ground for offensives in Anbar province and later Mosul.
The town and its nearby oil refinery, Iraq’s largest, were recaptured in late 2015 with air support from a US-led coalition and a host of tribal groups and militias.
But despite losing Mosul, the capital of its self-declared caliphate, in July, the terrorist group has continued to launch attacks in areas retaken by Iraqi forces.
Meanwhile, sources said on Tuesday that thousands of Iraqis have fled a Daesh-held town west of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition warplanes step up strikes ahead of a ground offensive to drive out the militants.
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of Daesh-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in July in Mosul. The town, about 150 kilometers east of the Syrian border.
On Monday, hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point west of Mosul. Many described a harrowing journey of a day or more from Tal Afar, with no food or water.
Jassem Aziz Tabo, an elderly man who arrived with his 12-member family, said he had left Tal Afar months ago and gone to a village on the outskirts to escape hunger, airstrikes and violence from the militants.
“Those who tried to escape were captured and shot in the head. They killed my son,” he said. “He tried to escape, he was caught and they killed him.”
Militants kill 7 Iraqi troops in Baiji
Militants kill 7 Iraqi troops in Baiji
UN warns of abuse of Palestinians returning to Gaza through Rafah crossing
- Human Rights Office describes pattern of ill-treatment, abuse and humiliation of returnees by Israeli forces, and by armed Palestinians allegedly backed by Israeli military
- Meanwhile, reports continue of airstrikes, gunfire and shelling across Gaza, and Israeli forces demolish a UN-run school
NEW YORK CITY: The Rafah crossing on the border between Gaza and Egypt opened for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday, allowing a limited number of people to pass through.
However, the UN voiced concerns about reported mistreatment of Palestinians returning to the war-ravaged enclave.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said reports continue across civilian areas in Gaza of airstrikes, gunfire and shelling, resulting in casualties and damage to infrastructure.
And Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished Jabalya Preparatory Boys’ School in northern Gaza, OCHA said. Run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, it was the last remaining school in a compound of six. Its destruction means the entire educational complex has been razed to the ground.
A limited flow of people were allowed to use the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main physical connection to the outside world, for four days in a row since it reopened on Monday, OCHA said. Only 98 returnees were received by UN teams inside Gaza between Monday and Thursday, it added, and the crossing remains closed on Fridays.
The UN Human Rights Office warned of what it described as a pattern of ill-treatment, abuse and humiliation of returnees by Israeli forces, and by armed Palestinians allegedly backed by the Israeli military.
According to accounts collected by the UN’s Human Rights Office, armed Palestinians handcuffed and blindfolded returnees, threatened and intimidated them, conducted searches and stole personal belongings and money. Returnees also reported violence, degrading interrogations and invasive body searches upon arrival at Israeli checkpoints.
The accounts point to conduct that violates the rights of Palestinians to personal security and dignity, and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment, the Human Rights Office said.
Meanwhile, the UN said it attempted to coordinate 11 humanitarian missions with the Israeli authorities on Wednesday and Thursday. Six were fully facilitated, but four faced lengthy delays at holding points along designated routes. Two of those missions were only partially completed, the other two eventually went ahead despite the delays.
A mission to monitor humanitarian cargo at the Kissufim crossing, east of Khan Younis, was denied on Wednesday after the crossing was closed.
The purposes of the missions included the collection of water, sanitation supplies, fuel and other items, medical evacuations through the Rafah crossing, and the transportation of returnees to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, OCHA said.
