Iraqi minister of defence Khaled Al-Obeidi and visiting delegation meet Iraq BADR organization chief Hadi Al-Amiri and Iraq Army Chief of Staff Babakir Zibari and other military commanders in Jurf al-Skhar.
ISIS militants lost control of Jurf al-Skhar on Sunday, when Iraqi soldiers and the Shiite militia retook it from the Sunni extremist group. Jurf al-Sakhar is part of a predominantly Sunni ribbon of territory that runs just south of Baghdad and lies on a road usually taken by Shiite pilgrims to the holy Shiite city of Karbala further south.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the southern district of Jurf al-Sakhr on Monday which has recently witnessed pitched battles between government troops alongside Shiite volunteer militiamen against the ISIS group. Jurf al-Sakhr, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Baghdad, was seized by IS last June. The Iraqi government said the area was liberated from IS extremists.
Members of the Iraqi security forces carry the coffin of one of their comrades during a funeral procession to their burial site in Iraq's Shiite shrine city of Karbala on October 27, 2014 after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged Humvee armoured vehicle near security forces and allied militiamen in Jurf al-Sakhr, south of Baghdad, killing over a dozen.
ISIS militants lost control of Jurf al-Skhar on Sunday, when Iraqi soldiers and the Shiite militia retook it from the Sunni extremist group. Jurf al-Sakhar is part of a predominantly Sunni ribbon of territory that runs just south of Baghdad and lies on a road usually taken by Shiite pilgrims to the holy Shiite city of Karbala further south.
But in Baghdad Residentscleared up debris in front of a row of shops and a hotel and restaurants on Tuesday after a car bomb exploded on Monday evening. 15 people were killed and 23 others wounded in the blast, police said.
The blast was one of two car bombings to hit Iraq on Monday. On the outskirts of Jurf al-Skhar, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden Humvee into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government militiamen, killing at least 24 people and wounding 25.
The next significant fighting near Baghdad is expected to take place in the Sunni heartland Anbar province. The town of Falluja has been surrounded by ISIS militants on three sides for weeks. Security officials say government forces are gearing up for an operation designed to break the siege, Reuters reported.
ISIS kept up the pressure on security forces, attacking soldiers, policemen and Shi'ite militiamen in the town of al-Mansuriyah, northeast of Baghdad. Six members of the Iraqi security forces were killed, police said.
IRAQI KURDISH FIGHTERS TO HEAD TO SYRIA
Kurdish peshmerga fighters also made advances over the weekend against ISIS but much attention is now focused on the planned deployment of peshmerga to Kobani, where fellow Kurds have been fending off an attack by ISIS for 40 days.
Dozens of Kurdish peshmerga fighters left a base in northern Iraq on Tuesday headed for the battleground Syrian town of Kobane, an AFP journalist reported.
Dozens of Kurdish peshmerga fighters leave a base in northern Iraq on October 28, 2014 on their way to the battleground Syrian town of Kobane.
Iraqi Kurdish officials and a member of the Kurdish administration in Syria said the peshmerga had been due to head to Kobani via Turkey on Sunday but their departure had been postponed. Iraqi Kurdish forces will not engage in ground fighting in the Syrian town of Kobani but provide artillery support for fellow Kurds there, a Kurdish spokesman has said.
The AFP journalist saw dozens of military trucks leaving the base northeast of Kurdish regional capital Arbil from which officers said fighters bound for Kobane would depart.
The convoy included two towed artillery pieces and a number of covered trucks, some of them carrying rocket launchers. Earlier, the fighters loaded machineguns and mortars into the trucks and packed bags for the trip.
"Forty vehicles carrying machineguns and weapons and artillery with 80 of the peshmerga forces will head to Dohuk (province) and then cross the border today," a Kurdish officer told AFP. A further 72 will fly to Turkey the following day, the officer said.
Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani for over a month, pressing on despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters.
A picture taken from the Turkish border near the southeastern village of Mursitpinar, in the provience of Sanliurfa shows smoke billowing after a jet fighter hit Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, on October 28, 2014.
U.S. forces staged four air strikes on ISIS militants in Syria on Tuesday and allies joined in nine strikes on the group in Iraq, the U.S. Central Command said. In Syria, U.S. attack and fighter aircraft went after targets near the border city of Kobani, destroying a small ISIS unit and four fighting positions.
U.S. and allied attack, fighter and remotely controlled aircraft again targeted the Mosul Dam area with four strikes taking out a small fighting unit, a fighting position, and vehicle and logistics base. Two strikes near Fallujah destroyed a small ISIS unit and tank. Other strikes were staged west of Baghdad, near Sinjar and northwest of Haditha.