Decade-old unexploded missiles destroyed in Al-Anbar

Shafaq News- Al-Anbar

Iraqi civil defense teams destroyed three unexploded missiles found in western Al-Anbar desert, Mohammed Tarek, media director of the province’s Civil Defense Directorate, told Shafaq News on Thursday.

The missiles were believed to have been fired by a warplane during operations against ISIS in 2015 or the campaign to retake the area in 2016, but failed to detonate because of a technical malfunction, he added.

Although ISIS lost territorial control in Iraq in 2017, the group continues to operate through scattered cells in desert and rural areas, particularly in Diyala, Kirkuk, Saladin and Al-Anbar. Earlier this month, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack that killed an Iraqi Federal Police officer and wounded others in Al-Bargliya–Al-Danadish village, southwest of Kirkuk.

Read more: Iraq’s western desert from ISIS hideouts to new security challenges