Iraq’s domestic security must catch up to military gains, defence minister says
Less than 10 percent of Iraqi territory remains in the hands of Islamic State, but battlefield advances have not been matched by better security inside Iraq, the country's defence minister said on Thursday. Iraq is now mounting a campaign to retake Mosul, the de facto IS capital, after recapturing Falluja late last month. But a […]Less than 10 percent of Iraqi territory remains in the hands of Islamic State, but battlefield advances have not been matched by better security inside Iraq, the country's defence minister said on Thursday.
Iraq is now mounting a campaign to retake Mosul, the de facto IS capital, after recapturing Falluja late last month. But a suicide bombing in Baghdad less than a week after Falluja fell killed almost 300 people, and bombings since then have taken at least 51 more lives.
"Progress in military performance must be paired with progress on the security file," Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi tweeted from Washington before a meeting of defence ministers from the U.S.-led coalition battling the ultra-hardline militants.
At its peak, IS had captured somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of Iraqi territory. The ground it holds has been drastically reduced, but the militants can still inflict tremendous damage in Iraq's towns and cities.
