Iraqi counter-terror unit working to clear, hold Fallujah

World Today

Iraqi counter-terror unit working to clear and hold Fallujah

Many Iraqis saw the weekend bombing in Baghdad as ISIL’s retaliation for its defeat in Fallujah last month.

The elite counter-terror team, known as the CTS, that spearheaded the fight to recapture Fallujah is now clearing the city of any remaining militants and the explosives they left behind.

CCTV’s Jack Barton spent a few days with the team.

Always on their guard, this Special Operations unit was ready to engage their enemy or deal with hidden explosives.

There were no ISIL fighters this time but they were in the region, their weapons remain abandoned as they fled. Clearing the houses was a slow process. On the roof snipers scanned the remnants of a once vibrant city.

In the distance, people heard a gun battle with ISIL, which these men call by its Arabic name “Daesh”.

“The army now is on the other side fighting against Daesh to get the civilians and kill all of Daesh with Iraq Special Forces,” Second Lieutenant Anmar Ahmed Alshamry of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service said.

But it was clear that it would take a long time before the civilian population here could move back into their shattered homes.

Search operations winded up as night came.

It’s time now to ensure ISIL couldn’t launch a counter attack under the cloak of darkness.

Some of these men have been fighting the militants for more than two years.They were exhausted, though there would be no respite.

Soon many would head to Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and ISIL’s last stronghold in Iraq, where they would be at the forefront of operations to end the fanatical group’s self-declared Caliphate in Iraq.