Two Iraqi army generals killed by 'IS' suicide bomb

Iraqi military officials say a suicide bomber from the self-styled "Islamic State" (IS) has killed two army generals and three soldiers on Thursday as they led forces against IS positions. The Iraqi military recently launched its latest offensive aimed at reclaiming the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad.

The bomber reportedly drove his explosives-laden vehicle into advancing troops north of Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, currently held by the IS militia. A military spokesman said on state television that 10 other soldiers were wounded.

The attacker killed the deputy head of the Anbar Operations Command, Staff Major General Abdul-Rahman Abu-Regheef, and 10th Army Division commander Staff Brigadier General Sefeen Abdul-Maguid along with three other people, spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said.

Iraq's military had announced efforts to retake Anbar several times since IS militants seized Ramadi in May. The capture of Ramadi dampened Baghdad's hopes of quickly routing the militants from its north and west.

Although Iraqi security forces and allied Shiite militiamen have been battling IS in Anbar for months and were able to recapture some of the ground seized by the group, the majority of Anbar province remains under IS control.

The group has controlled about a third of Iraq following a blitz across the north and west of the country in the summer of 2014. A U.S.-led coalition has been staging airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq and Syria for about a year.

In June of 2014, the country's second-largest city of Mosul fell to the militia, leading to the further collapse of the government army. The fall of Mosul was regarded as a key point in last year's push by IS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

Iraqi PM slashes cabinet

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office last year and has sought since then to smooth out sectarian and political divisions and achieve national unity in the face of the insurgency by the radical Sunni organization IS.

Al-Abadi slashed the size of his cabinet by a third in mid-August, as part of a push to implement political reforms in response to mass protests against corruption and bad government services, sparked in part by power shortages during a recent heat wave. The calls for reform have won the backing of the country's senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Abadi's office also announced that he had cleared the way for the military prosecution of senior commanders blamed for the fall of Ramadi four months ago, claiming that "decisions of the investigative commission on the withdrawal of the Anbar Operations Command and units attached to it from the city of Ramadi."

dr/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)