Iraq: Attacks on Popular Mobilisation militia

Several members of the Iraqi government-financed Popular Mobilisation militia have been killed or wounded in an artillery attack that targeted their positions in Kirkuk province in northern Iraq.

A source from Kirkuk police who preferred not to be named told al-Araby al-Jadeed that one member of the predominantly Shia Popular Mobilisation militia was killed and four others were wounded after several mortar shells fell on Al-Bashir village 25 km south of the city of Kirkuk where militia members were gathered.

According to the source, Islamic State group (IS), which "controls Al-Bashir village, carries out frequent attacks against the Popular Mobilisation militia and Peshmerga Kurdish forces stationed on the the northern and western outskirts of the village."

Baghdad

A source from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence said that a Popular Mobilisation militia member was killed in northern Baghdad by unknown assailants who opened fire at him.

Four patrol policemen in Baghdad were also wounded in a separate attack on their vehicle using an explosive device, the MoD source added.

Diyala province

A local source in the security services told al-Araby al-Jadeed that unknown gunmen assassinated a Ministry of Defence officer in Diyala province in eastern Iraq.

"Gunmen riding in a car with tinted windows opened fire from their weapons at a captain in the Iraqi army as he came out of his house in the Khan Bani Saad region, south of the province, killing him on the spot," the source said.