Kurdish Peshmerga forces repelled an ISIS vehicle-bomb attack on Sinjar yesterday.
A Peshmerga Ministry source said the group attempted to enter the district through the Domiz–Sinjar area northwest of Mosul.
Forces destroyed all five vehicles and killed their drivers before they reached Sinjar. Around twenty ISIS members accompanying them with light weapons were also killed. Others fled toward Tal Afar, west of Mosul. The source said Peshmerga controlled all forward approaches to prevent further incursions.
The international coalition said yesterday that around 700 ISIS members appeared to remain hidden in central Ramadi and its eastern outskirts, days after the Iraqi army declared victory there. Large parts of central Ramadi, capital of Anbar, still required clearance of explosives planted by the group, which captured the city in May. This delayed the return of tens of thousands who fled to Baghdad and elsewhere.
US military intelligence Captain Chance McCraw told reporters in Baghdad that an estimated 400 ISIS fighters remained in central Ramadi and around 300 farther east toward Fallujah.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari meanwhile reiterated his country’s opposition to the entry of any Arab or foreign military forces.
He told reporters that Iraq had no military agreement with Turkey or any country that infringed Iraqi sovereignty.
Sovereignty took precedence over every interest, he said, warning that several matters involving Turkey would change if violations continued.