After screening the footage, Brigadier-General Saad Maan, spokesman of Baghdad operations command, said that a group of seven terrorists were planning to target civilians in al-Rusafa, the east-bank settlement of Baghdad.

Speaking during the media briefing, Maan underscored that security forces were working in close cooperation with volunteer fighters to battle terrorists.

The security forces seized explosives, suicide bomb belts, and small bombs, he added.

This is while a combined aerial and ground attack by the Iraqi army has killed at least 40 ISIL terrorist in the key city of Mosul as government’s military operations in other areas of Salahuddin Province continues.

Iraqi tribal volunteers are also preparing to provide assistance to government forces in efforts to liberate Mosul and purge the entire area of the ISIL terrorists.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has recently said Baghdad's air and ground forces will turn the tide against the ISIL and its associated militant groups within days. Al-Maliki has vowed that the country’s security forces would confront the foreign-sponsored militants.

RA/NJF