Daesh attack kills 15 Iraqi guards near Jordan border

By Suleiman al-Qubeisi

ANBAR, Iraq (AA) - At least 15 Iraqi border guards, including two officers, were killed Friday morning in an attack by the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq’s western Anbar province, according to a military source.

Daesh gunmen and suicide bombers targeted a border guards HQ near Anbar’s Trebil border crossing with Jordan, Army Colonel Walid al-Deleimi told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Deleimi said that reinforcements -- including army troops and border guards -- had since been dispatched to the area to help repel the attack.

War-torn Iraq has suffered from a devastating security vacuum since June 2014, when Daesh overran vast swathes of territory, including the northern city of Mosul.

Last October, the Iraqi army -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition and local allies on the ground -- launched a wide-ranging offensive aimed at recapturing Mosul, once considered Iraq’s second most populous city.