Iraqi forces launch major offensive to recapture western towns

Iraqi army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units, have started an offensive to retake towns and areas in the troubled western province of Anbar from Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

“A military operation has begun in the western areas of Anbar to liberate them from Daesh,” Major General Qassem Mohammedi, commander of Jazeera Operations Command, said on Thursday.

He said the Iraqi Army's 7th Division, police personnel and pro-government fighters – commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – are involved in the military campaign.

Iraqi army soldiers and their allies plan to liberate the towns of Anah, Rawa and al-Qaim on the Euphrates River, and the most immediate objective of the new offensive is Anah, situated 258 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad.

“Our forces started advancing from Haditha towards Anah from several directions,” Mohammedi noted.

Nadhom al-Jughaifi, a commander with the Haditha tribal fighters, said zero hour had come to liberate the western areas.

Car bomb kills eight people in eastern Baghdad

Meanwhile, at least eight people lost their lives and more than a dozen others sustained injuries when a car bomb struck an area in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi security and medical officials said.

The officials said the explosives-laden car was parked near an outdoor fruit and vegetable market in al-Obaidi neighborhood.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but it bears the hallmark of those carried out by Daesh terrorists.

SS