BAGHDAD — Canada conducted airstrikes on positions held by the self-proclaimed Islamic State group in Iraq for the first time on Sunday, while reports emerged that the militant group had executed more than 200 tribes people in recent days.
“Today’s strike demonstrates our government’s firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism and to stand with our allies against ISIL’s atrocities against innocent women, children and men,” Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement.
Canada joined the anti-IS coalition on Thursday and conducted two days of reconnaissance before sending two CF-18s to attack militant positions around the city of Fallujah.
The attacks followed reports that IS had slaughtered scores of people from the Albu Nimr tribe, which had taken up arms against the insurgents.
Women and children were said to be among those executed over the past 10 days in western Iraq’s Anbar province which has been largely over-run by IS.
Accounts varied as to the number and timings of the executions in Anbar, but all sources spoke of more than 200 people murdered in recent days.
Police Colonel Shaaban Al-Obaidi told AFP that more than 200 people were killed, while Faleh Al-Essawi, deputy head of Anbar provincial council, put the toll at 258.
The killings are probably aimed at discouraging resistance from powerful local tribes in Anbar.
IS also detained dozens of members of the Jubur tribe in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, officials and a tribal leader said.
Jubur tribesmen and security forces have been holding out for months against IS in the provincial town of Dhuluiyah. — AFP
