BAGHDAD, Iraq — An Islamic State (ISIS) group attack on a lookout point west of Baghdad manned by a state-sponsored tribal force left several people dead late Sunday, security sources and medics told AFP.
The jihadists threw grenades and fired on the tribal Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al Shaabi in Arabic) forces stationed at Al-Radwaniyah, on the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital, near Baghdad airport.
"ISIS attacked the monitoring tower, killing five members of the tribal Hashd and six local people who had come to help repel the attack," a security source said.
A medic confirmed the toll to AFP, and said eight wounded were transferred to a hospital in central Baghdad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from ISIS.
Iraq's Security Media Cell has confirmed the attack, saying "a terror group consisting of four people conducted an attack in Al Basima village in the Radhwaniyah region late last night", according to state media. Four people were killed and three injured in the attack, it claimed.
ISIS swept across a third of Iraq in 2014, seizing major cities across the north and west and reaching the suburbs of the capital Baghdad.
After a fierce three-year fight backed by the US-led coalition, Iraq declared ISIS defeated in late 2017.
The coalition has significantly drawn down its troops this year, consolidating them to three main bases in Baghdad, Ain al-Asad in the west and Erbil in the north.
But ISIS sleeper cells have continued to wage hit-and-run attacks on security forces and state infrastructure, particularly in desert areas where troops are stretched thin.
Areas disputed between Baghdad and Erbil are particularly vulnerable, lying in a security vacuum exploited by the terror group.
Attacks with such high tolls and so close to the capital have been rare, however.
ISIS said in its weekly al-Naba newsletter released on Thursday that it had conducted six operations in Salahaddin province in the week of October 29–November 4. Salahaddin was the second most frequently attacked province in Iraq after Diyala, where ISIS conducted ten attacks that same week, according to the newsletter.
The group recently claimed responsibility for several Salahaddin attacks targeting federal police barracks and PMF equipment, according to posts on ISIS telegram channels.
The anti-ISIS coalition conducted seven strikes on targets in Iraq in September, killing 18 people and destroying six cache sites and four tunnels, the Coalition said in its latest available strike summary report released early last month.
Updated at 10.20am
