Iraqi Army battles IS near Fallujah

BAGHDAD: Fierce clashes erupted northeast of Fallujah on Saturday between the Iraqi army and Islamic State militants following an ambush the day before that killed a general and staff officers.
Militants launched a complex attack on Friday involving a bulldozer packed with explosives against a convoy as it approached an army camp, killing 1st Division commander Brig. Gen. Hassan Abbas Toufan and three staff officers in the Nadhem Al-Taqseem region south of Lake Tharthar.
Ten soldiers also were killed and a dozen wounded in the attack which was against the nearby battalion headquarters as well, said Lt. Gen. Mohammed Khalaf Al-Dulaimi of the Anbar operations command.
Residents of Fallujah said that Islamic State militants paraded an officer and three soldiers allegedly captured in the fighting through the streets in a pickup truck on Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The fighting came as three suicide car bombs on the other side of the province targeted the remote desert Trebill border crossing with Jordan, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding 10, said Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
In other violence Saturday, a bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Baghdad’s southeastern Jisr Diyala suburb, killing four people and wounding 11, police and hospital officials said.