Iraq says key town has been taken from Islamic State ahead of pilgrimage

Holy days: an Iraqi child touches a banner bearing the portraits of Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas, both revered by Shiites. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Iraq and neighbouring Iran will journey to Baghdad and Kerbala in the coming days to mark Ashura, a major Shiite religious event. Photo: AFP

Erbil, Iraq: The Iraqi government claims that its troops and Shiite militias have captured a key Islamic State stronghold near Baghdad, in an operation to boost security for Islamic new year gatherings apparently overseen by an Iranian general.

The fall of the town of Jurf al-Sakhar - which could not be independently confirmed - would be the first major success for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took power with US support in September and completed assembling his Shiite-dominated government only last week.

'Our security forces and the heroes of the popular mobilisation have achieved another victory in Jurf al-Sakhar,' Mr Abadi wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the Shiite militias mobilised after the Iraqi army imploded in mid-June as the so-called Islamic State overran the northern city of Mosul and stormed to the threshold of Baghdad.

In this picture posted by the Iranian military, Major-General Qasim Suleimani, commander of Iran's paramilitary Quds Force, is seen second from left with Shiite leaders in Iraq. Photo: @akhedery

The Sunni-dominated area around Jurf al-Sakhar controls a network of roads on which Shiite pilgrims making their way from Baghdad to shrines in the sacred city of Kerbala to mark the new Islamic year are often attacked and bombed.

Shiites yesterday began a 10-day period in which hundreds of thousands of pilgrims - including huge numbers of Iranians - descend on shrines in Baghdad and Kerbala.

The Obama administration hopes that Mr Abadi's government will mend fences with Iraq's Sunni leaders, alienated by what they charged was persecution by the previous Shiite-dominated government, and persuade them to fight Islamic State.

New man: Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban addresses the media at the holy city of Kerbala on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

But the Jurf al-Sakhar operation could end up reconfirming for Sunni leaders Mr Abadi's dependence on Iranian-backed Shiite militias that have committed untold atrocities against Sunnis and operate beyond government control.

Thousands of Shiite militiamen converged on the area to join Iraqi troops and police for a push that began at dawn Friday, said Naim al-Aboudi, a spokesman for Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a powerful and notorious Shiite militia.

The operation also involved fighters from two other Iranian-backed Shiite militias, the Badr Organisation and Hezbollah Brigades, Mr Aboudi said.

Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias were reportedly accompanied by advisers from the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The operation apparently was overseen by the Quds Force commander, Major-General Qasim Suleimani, who has been shown meeting Iraqi Shiite militia commanders in photographs posted on social networks.

'I have no doubt that he is personally overseeing this operation because of the importance of the area with the coming pilgrimage,' said a Kurdish official who worked with the Iranians in a series of battles outside the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk.

According to new Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban, himself a top leader of the Badr Organisation, aircraft of the US-led international coalition provided 'air cover in some locations', but didn't attack.

The offensive came as fighting against the Islamic State had been floundering in nearby Anbar Province, where a string of military bases and population centres west of Baghdad are under IS control.

US Central Command announced on Saturday that US aircraft conducted 22 air strikes on Islamic State targets on Friday and Saturday.

At least a dozen took place in northern Iraq, where Kurdish fighters allied with the government have been fending off an IS offensive aimed at regaining control of the Mosul Dam, which provides electricity and water for crops.

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