By Mohammed Waleed and Sarhad Shaker
BAGHDAD (AA) – Two Daesh militants were killed on Wednesday during a security operation to destroy a tunnel used by the terrorist group near Mosul, according to an Iraqi military commander.
Clashes erupted when army forces and tribal fighters were destroying the tunnel in the town of Badush, west of Mosul, Major General Najem al-Jubouri said.
“Two Daesh militants were killed in the clashes,” he told Anadolu Agency.
No casualties were reported among government forces.
In a related development, Iraqi forces seized a cache of weapons and explosives in the town of Qasbah al-Rai, west of Mosul, according to Police Capt. Saad Nasser.
Last December, officials in Baghdad had declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled. However, it appears that the notorious terrorist group still maintains a network of "sleeper cells" in several parts of the country.