Shafaq News / A government official in Diyala denied that, on Tuesday, ISIS returned to the border areas between Kanaan sub-district, east of Diyala, and Baghdad.

The director of Kanaan sub-district, Mahdi al-Shammari, told Shafaq News agency, "There are no major or dangerous strongholds for ISIS in the agricultural border areas between Baghdad and the outskirts of the Kanaan and Bahriz sub-district."

However, the government official added, "there are some hidden ISIS members and cells, but they do not rise to the level of a real security threat to launch effective strikes and attacks."

Al-Shammari called for continuing pre-emptive operations to prevent ISIS from expanding towards safe residential areas in the countryside.