BAGHDAD, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary tribal fighter was killed and two were injured in an attack by Islamic State (IS) militants attack near the city of Fallujah in Iraq's western province of al-Anbar, a security source said on Wednesday.
The incident took place late on Tuesday night when IS militants opened fire from their assault rifles and machineguns on a security checkpoint manned by local tribal fighters at a bridge outside the town of al-Garma near Fallujah, some 50 km west the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attackers came from the nearby desert that stretches between the two provinces of Anbar and Salahudin, the source said.
The mayor of al-Garma told Xinhua that he requested the Iraqi Joint Operations Command and Anbar Provincial Command to send Iraqi army units to protect the bridge at the edge of the desert from the attacks of IS militants as the tribal fighters have only small arms and light weapons.
In December 2017, Iraq declared full liberation from the IS after the security forces and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units, backed by the anti-IS international coalition, recaptured all areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out guerilla attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians.
