According to official reports on Sunday, nine suspected Islamic State terrorists, including four Lebanese nationals, were killed in airstrikes north of Baghdad in retaliation for an attack by the Islamic State group earlier this month on an Iraqi army barracks.
The gunmen, who were members of the Islamic State, killed a guard and 11 soldiers. They broke into the barracks in the al-Azim district outside the town of Baqouba as they were sleeping on January 21. The attack was one of the most daring the militants had undertaken in recent weeks. It came amid a spate of violence that stoked fears the group was re-energizing.
According to Yehia Rassol, the spokesman for Iraq’s commander-in-chief, the joint military operations room as well as the air force identified the cell that took part in the attack as team members of the terrorist group hiding in al-Azim. Three airstrikes were launched that killed 9 militants.
Another security official in the condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that four among the killed were Lebanese, natives of the northern town of Tripoli.
