IS targets rural area near Baghdad
Tarmiya, a rural area near Baghdad, is in the sights of the Islamic State; sleeper cells there are spreading through the Mashhadani tribe.
RAWAD, Iraq — An insurgent-prone rural area less than 30 miles from Baghdad continues to suffer attacks and is virtually a no-go area even for some leaders of its dominant tribe.
The area, Tarmiya, has been hit by repeated attacks and attempted ones in recent months. On May 1, over 20 members of the Albu Faraj tribe were killed in a night attack that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for through its media outlet.
The Mashhadani tribe is the largest in the area and the greatest concentration of the largely Sunni tribe in the country is also there. Several high-ranking members of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) were from the tribe.
One, Khalid al-Mashhadani, was the highest-ranking Iraqi in al-Qaeda in the country at the time of his arrest in 2007. He has since been executed.
