ISIS attack brings security sweep in western Iraq

Shafaq News- Saladin

Iraqi security forces on Saturday launched a sweep across desert areas between Baiji in Saladin and Haditha in Al-Anbar to pursue ISIS militants after clashes near an electricity transmission tower, a security source told Shafaq News.

Forces are now searching for attackers who withdrew to unknown areas after the clash and tightening security around transmission towers and power lines to prevent further attacks.

One tower on the main Haditha-Baiji transmission line had been blown up late Friday, damaging the line and taking it out of service. Saad Ghazi Al-Mohammadi, head of the security committee in the Al-Anbar Provincial Council, told Shafaq News that preliminary information indicated one of the transmission towers had been targeted in an explosion.

Security forces separately thwarted an ISIS attempt to target another transmission tower in the same corridor. A security source told Shafaq News that forces intervened before the militants reached the tower, triggering clashes before the attackers withdrew.

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