Iraq News Now

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Six fighters from the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias were killed and 31 injured in an Islamic State (ISIS) ambush in Makhmour on Wednesday, the Iraqi Defense Ministry confirmed.

"Hashd al-Shaabi forces were attacked by ISIS fighters Wednesday evening near Mosul city,” Ali Husseini, spokesperson for the paramilitary’s northern branch, told Rudaw. 

The Hashd fighters were traveling in a bus on their way from Mosul to Kirkuk. 

Those injured are being treated in hospital. 

Sirwan Barzani, commander of the Gwer-Makhmour front, told Rudaw the situation in Makhmour is “calm” and that the Peshmerga has opened the road to Hashd to allow them access to Erbil’s hospitals.

Between 14,000 and 18,000 ISIS militants are estimated to still be operating in Iraq and Syria, despite military victories on both sides of the border. Iraq declared the group defeated in 2017. In Syria, the militants are corralled into a tent camp near Baghouz.

In Iraq, they frequently carry out attacks against security forces and civilians, especially in security vacuums between Kurdish and Iraq forces. 

The ambush on Wednesday happened in a mountainous area between Makhmour and Dubiz. The terrain makes it “even more difficult to reclaim the region from ISIS,” said Husseini. 

The Hashd have dispatched reinforcements to secure the area, he added. 

"We do not know the exact number of the ISIS militants who had ambushed our force," he said.

Sirwan Barzani, commander on the Peshmerga’s Gwer-Makhmour front, told Rudaw they are ready to help rush the wounded to hospitals in Erbil.