No more than 16 ISIS members are still in Waqf Basin, Source

Shafaq News/ A security source revealed that only a few ISIS members are still present in the Waqf Basin, between Al-Abbara and Abu Saida, 25 kilometers to the northeast of Baqubah.

The source told Shafaq News Agency, "No more than 16 ISIS elements are deployed in the Waqf Basin, including 17 villages."

"The surveillance cameras monitor daily the movements of terrorists in the agricultural villages."

"It is not possible to eliminate ISIS elements with missiles or mortar shells because they are present in residential villages, which would affect the civilian casualties."

The source denied that ISIS controls any village or hotspot in Diyala, especially since ISIS elements cannot appear publicly but attack at night with sniper weapons.

In 2017, Iraq declared final victory over ISIS after Iraqi forces drove its last remnants from the country; the militant group captured about a third of Iraq's territory.

The war has had a devastating impact on the areas previously controlled by the militants. About 3.2 million people remain displaced.

Yet, ISIS still has sleeper cells in several Iraqi Governorates.