Iraqi forces 'torch dense jungles' to drive IS militants out of Diyala, Saladin provinces

Iraq continued its fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in an extensive effort to rid rural areas in the Saladin and Diyala provinces of the a continued low-level insurgency by the militants.

Soldiers and bomb disposal teams swept Al-Udhaim – an area close to Saladin in Diyala, the Shafaq News Agency on Sunday cited a security insider as saying.

The authorities "torched the dense jungles to hinder [IS] from sheltering inside" and took out locations the group's members kept to conceal themselves in.

Emergency police swept agricultural sites and rural areas near the river Tigris in Saladin.

One source told Shafaq local forces burned the thick jungle next to the Tigris so IS militants cannot hide there or get around undetected.

Rural Diyala was historically a site with a significant IS presence, before the Baghdad-based Iraqi government and autonomous Kurdistan authorities both claimed the area.

IS militants used parts of the province as a base for kidnappings and swift assaults.