Iraqi tribal fighter killed in explosion at checkpoint in Diyala

At least one pro-Iraqi Sunni government fighter was killed in a bomb attack at a checkpoint in Khan Beni Saad, about 50 kilometers north of Baghdad, officials and security sources said early Sunday.

In the attack, the fighter from the Sahwa tribal group was killed and six others were injured, five of them Iraqi soldiers.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said two bombs were detonated near the checkpoint on Saturday evening.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion, although ISIS remains active in Diyala province and Iraqi forces said in January that the group’s leader in the province had been killed in an airstrike.

Diyala province was once a stronghold of al-Qaeda and later IS, but violence has been sporadic since IS’s near-complete defeat in the Battle of Mosul in 2017.

In 2015, 130 people were killed in a bomb attack on a market square in the city. The attack was later claimed by IS.

The situation in the province, sometimes described as a “mini Iraq” because of its mix of Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni communities, remains tense amid the rise of militias backed by Iran and linked to the government in Baghdad.

The Sahwa is a Sunni militia founded by the United States at the height of the war against Al-Qaeda in Iraq between 2006 and 2008. Al-Qaeda in Iraq later developed into IS.

The Sahwa is credited with significantly reducing violence in Iraq, but it was largely disbanded by former Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki when sectarian tensions rocked the country and contributed to the rise of IS.

Some armed Sunni militias opposing IS are still called “Sahwa,” while others have integrated themselves into an alliance of Iranian-backed militias called the “Popular Mobilization Forces” (PMF).

In Diyala, the Badr Organization and Asaib Ahl Al Haq are the most influential political groups with armed paramilitaries in the PMF; both have seats in the current government.

Updated: May 26, 2024, 07:56