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Islamic State kills Iraqi forces in sparsely populated Anbar desert

Attacks and unexploded ordnance continue to reap victims in Iraq’s vast western desert as security officials deny increased risks associated with a massive recent jailbreak across the border.

Iraqi soldiers secure buses transporting displaced families from the displaced persons camp in Habbaniyah in Iraq's Anbar province on Nov. 10, 2020.
Iraqi soldiers secure buses transporting displaced families from the displaced persons camp in Habbaniyah in Iraq's Anbar province on Nov. 10, 2020. — AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

BAGHDAD – The deaths of several soldiers in the western Anbar desert and attacks further south in the same province have drawn attention to the vast expanses that were long a hideout for insurgents. 

Although the danger had diminished in recent years, a Feb. 8 explosion reportedly killed at least three soldiers and one civilian, as well as injuring others and destroying the military vehicle in the desert near Rawa.

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