Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced Tuesday that security forces have killed two notorious ISIS-linked terrorists—the terror group’s commander in southern Iraq and an individual who facilitated suicide bomb attacks.
“The terrorist Abu Hassan al-Gharibawi, the so-called leader of southern Iraq in Daesh, and the terrorist Ghanem Sabah Jawad, who is responsible for transporting suicide bombers, were both eliminated today, in addition to other terrorist elements,” Kadhimi wrote in a tweet, referring to ISIS by an Arabic term—Daesh.
“These victories are part of our heroes’ pledge to eliminate the leaders of Daesh gangs & in loyalty to the Iraqi martyrs’ blood,” Kadhimi wrote. “Our security forces have made us proud. Long live Iraq.”
The two were killed in an ongoing security operation to hunt down remaining ISIS terror cells after dozens of civilians were murdered in a double suicide attack in Baghdad.
The strike marks the second high-profile elimination of ISIS terrorists, with Kadhimi announcing last week that security forces had killed Abu Yaser al-Issawi, an ISIS commander who had claimed to be the leader of the terror group in Iraq and its “deputy caliph.”
“I gave my word to pursue the Daesh terrorists, we gave them a thundering response,” Kadhimi wrote in a tweet Thursday.
Two weeks ago, ISIS claimed responsibility for a twin suicide bombing that killed at least 32 people in a crowded Baghdad market. It was the first big suicide bombing in Iraq for three years.
Iraqi authorities said the attack was a possible sign of the terror group reviving after its military defeat three years ago. At the height of its power, ISIS controlled around a third of Iraq, but by 2017 it had been driven from all territory they held in the country.
The terror group’s paramount leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died in 2019 during a U.S. raid in neighboring Syria.
President Donald Trump at the time said that a nighttime raid carried out by Special Operations forces in northwestern Syria over the night of Oct. 26 led to al-Baghdadi’s death.
“Last night, the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice,” Trump said. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization in the world.”
Al-Baghdadi died after fleeing into a dead-end tunnel, Trump said, adding that during his final moments, the ISIS leader was “whimpering and crying and screaming.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned in June 2020 that ISIS terrorists continue to pose a threat in parts of the world, and urged allies to step up funding efforts to defeat them despite a pandemic-driven budget crunch.
“Our fight against ISIS continues, and will for the foreseeable future. We cannot rest,” Pompeo told a virtual meeting of representatives of 31 countries and partners in the fight against international terrorism.
“We must continue to root out ISIS cells and networks and provide stabilization assistance to liberated areas in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
From The Epoch Times