ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A militia member was killed and four others were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion near Mosul, according to Iraq’s security media cell. The IED exploded when members of the Popular Mobilization Forces’s (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) Brigade 33 or Waad Allah Forces were carrying out a raid in pursuit of Islamic State (ISIS) group remnants southwest of Mosul, notes a statement from the cell released on Telegram. The PMF’s Nineveh Operations Command, in coordination with the Iraqi army, cleared six villages of militants. ISIS has attacked PMF forces several times this year – particularly in territories disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, where ISIS sleeper cells thrive. The PMF took part in the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq in late 2017, but its role in Iraq has increasingly been called into question. ISIS claimed in its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba, that it had conducted 39 operations in Iraq from April 15 to 21, killing and injuring 69 people, including PMF fighters. PMF units close to Iran are widely accused of abducting and killing opponents and are believed to be responsible for some of the deadly rocket attacks targeting US and coalition personnel stationed at bases across Iraq.
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