Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen have recaptured one of Iraq’s largest dams, another success in Baghdad’s efforts to wrest key facilities back from the Islamic State group.
Pro-government forces ousted IS jihadists from control of Adhaim dam, which forms a lake that marks the border between the eastern provinces of Diyala and Salaheddin, earlier this week.
Commanders from the army and the Shiite Badr militia that jointly led the operation told an AFP journalist who visited Friday that IS pulled out after a brief battle two days earlier.
“Thanks to the mujahedeen of the army and Badr, we have taken control of the site and have cleared it completely,” said Badr commander Kadhem Husseinawi.
Ali Hussein, a soldier with the 5th Brigade, said the fighting only lasted a few hours but that it would take some time to defuse all the booby-traps left behind.
Most of the dam’s vital infrastructure was intact, as was the administrative headquarters, but some of the staff lodgings that IS fighters had occupied were destroyed.
In the back yard of one of those houses, in a bunker the IS used to store food and ammunition, Badr fighters wearing their trademark green bandanas flashed victory signs.
The pro-government forces seized at least 10 vehicles, including Humvees and armoured personnel carriers, and destroyed four others during the operation, which involved mortar fire and strikes by helicopters and jet fighters.
