The attack near Fallujah coincided with the release of a video by the Islamic State shows the corpses of more than 30 Iraqi troops in Saqlawiyah in 2014. The jihadist group also seized a number of armored vehicles.
Islamic State forces are pressing an offensive in the central Iraqi city. Iraq’s defense minister claimed that Baiji was liberated just two weeks ago.
The “Training Camp Shaheed Ustaz Aasim in the Lions Den” is said to be in the Zurmat district in the eastern Afghan province. The district is a known bastion of the Haqqani Network and has hosted al Qaeda fighters in the past.
If the images released by the Islamic State supporter are legitimate, then Khorasan province now has a foothold in Waziristan, the epicenter of al Qaeda’s base of support in Pakistan.
The al Qaeda and Taliban-linked jihadist group has operated under the radar of Western officials in Afghanistan, but continues to wage jihad alongside its allies.
The Islamic State West Africa (formerly known as Boko Haram) has utilized dozens of women and girls as suicide bombers over the last two years.
A video released by the Taliban shows its fighters in the northern Helmand district of Kajaki operating US-made equipment, including Humvees, overrunning a military base, and parading through the district center.
A Badr fighter also displays an AT4 anti-tank rocket. US equipment that has been supplied to the Iraqi military continues to fall into the hands of Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
The jihadist group claims that a video from Chardara in Kunduz province will “expose all the lies of the Kabul regime who declared that the district was retaken from the Mujahideen.” The status of the district is uncertain, but was overrun by the Taliban one week ago.
In the video, Hezbollah Brigades, which is a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is seen operating an array of US military hardware, including M113 armored personnel carriers, HUMVEEs, and artillery.
The Taliban and allied groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al Qaeda, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, and Lashkar-e-Taiba are known to have run dozens of camps inside Afghanistan even as the Coalition was present.
The Long War Journal has identified 117 training camps run by jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria. Almost half are operated by the Islamic State, while the other half are administered by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and its allies. Some facilities are no longer operational, while other camps likely exist, but are not publicized by the jihadists.
The Islamic State has used the suicide assault to demoralize and strike fear into the hearts of Iraqi troops, and often uses five or more suicide bombers during a single attack.
Iranian-backed militias, including Asaib al Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades, and Iraqi forces are said to control half of the central Iraqi city. Baiji has changed hands twice since the Islamic State launched its offensive in June 2014.
Qods Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani was also photographed in Baghdad with Popular Mobilization Committee chief Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Imam Ali Brigade leader Shebl al Zaydi. The images contradict US official’s claims that Iran and its Shiite militia proxies are not involved in the Anbar counteroffensive.
Commander Jassem Nouri is likely a member of Qods Force, the external operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Qods Force. He was advising Shiite militias, such as Hezbollah Brigades, who are engaged in fighting in Iraq’s Anbar province.
Haditha is one of the few towns in Anbar that have resisted the Islamic State’s onslaught in Anbar province.
The 8th Brigade headquarters also appears to have fallen. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Iraqi forces in the Fallujah-Ramadi corridor are in complete disarray and are withdrawing from Habbaniyah and other areas.
The loss of the government complex, which has been under siege since the Islamic State renewed its push to take control of Ramadi in April, is a major blow to the Iraqi military and government, which have sought to regain the initiative in Anbar after a string of losses there over the past year.
Iraqi and US military officers have warned that the facility is close to falling to the Islamic State. The Iraqi government and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are sending reinforcements to besieged troops.
In the March assault on the brigade headquarters in the Thar Thar area in Anbar, the Islamic State captured a large quantity of munitions, vehicles, and weapons.
More than 120 Iraqi soldiers, including the commander of the 1st Iraqi Army Division, are reported to have been killed after the Islamic State took control of the Thar Thar dam and a military barracks.
The Foreign Terrorist Organization continues to promote attacks on American forces while fighting under the aegis of the Iraqi government and benefiting from US airstrikes against the Islamic State.
The jihadist group has remained on the offensive in Anbar province despite its recent loss in Tikrit. Islamic State fighters have overrun two Iraqi Army bases in Thar Thar in the past month.
Islamic State fighters penetrated the perimeter of the Baiji oil refinery complex, the largest in Iraq, after a suicide bomber thought to be from Afghanistan or Pakistan detonated outside the main gate.
The Islamic State makes a push in Anbar’s capital and takes control of a district as Iraqi forces and Shiite militias are reportedly preparing an offensive in the western province.
Militias that US military commanders claimed to have quit the fight have entered Tikrit.
The Thar Thar area, where the attack took place, is key terrain between Anbar and Salahaddin provinces. The assault on the base comes as fighting has escalated in Anbar’s provincial capital of Ramadi.
Massive columns of Shiite militas, including some groups that are listed by the US as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, have been leading the fight in Tikrit. Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani has been spotted at the front lines.
After months of besieging al Baghdadi in Iraq’s Anbar province, the Islamic State was able to take over large swaths of the town. Additionally, at least eight jihadists attacked the Al Asad airbase where US Marines are stationed.