Bomb explosion injures two Iraqi soldiers during patrol

TUZ KHURMATU — A bomb detonated near an Iraqi Army convoy in the Salah-Din province’s Tuz Khurmatu district on Thursday, wounding two soldiers, officials said.

The explosion occurred in the Zarga area during a patrol involving the 52nd Brigade of the Iraqi Army, according to Hussein Ali, the police chief of Tuz Khurmatu. “Today, during a patrol near Lake Zarga and several other villages in the area, a planted bomb exploded near the 52nd Brigade of the Iraqi Army, injuring two Iraqi soldiers, one of whom is in serious condition,” Ali told 964media.

This attack follows a recent incident where a father and son, who were fishing in the area, were killed by ISIS fighters. The victims, a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son, were residents of the Askari neighborhood in Tuz Khurmatu and often visited the lake for fishing, a primary source of their livelihood.

Zarga, situated west of the Khurmatu district along the Khurmatu-Tikrit Road, is recognized as a high-risk security vacuum zone. The presence of ISIS militants, who continue to attack security forces and local residents, has been reported in the area.

The Islamic State, which declared a caliphate in 2014 after capturing vast territories in Iraq and Syria, was officially driven out of Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, supported by a U.S.-led coalition. Despite the loss of its last Syrian stronghold in 2019 to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, residual members of the group still threaten the region.

A United Nations report in January estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 ISIS fighters remain active across Iraq and Syria, continuing to stage deadly assaults from secluded locations.