Iraqi PM reiterates pledge to hunt down IS militants across Iraq

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Saturday renewed his pledge to hunt down Islamic State (IS) militants across Iraq after recent attacks and abductions carried out by the terrorist group.

"We will chase the remaining cells of terrorism in their hideouts and we will kill them, we will chase them everywhere, in the mountains and the desert," Abadi said on the state-run Iraqiya channel.

He vowed that "no negotiation with terrorists" as some people believe that there could be negotiations to release kidnapped people by IS, saying "we have rejected it (negotiation) in the past and we reject it today."

Abadi's comments came two days after he asked the elite forces of Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) with the operations against the terrorist group, which killed and kidnapped dozens of civilians and security members in the past few weeks.

"Just like we had promised to liberate the land (from IS group) and we met our promise, we promise now our citizens to eliminate these (terrorist) groups and bring them to justice," Abadi said.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi forces found eight executed bodies of people kidnapped earlier by the extremist IS group near the village of Sarha at the provincial border between Diyala and Salahudin in central Iraq. The bodies were six policemen and members of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

The latest deterioration in security put the Iraqi security forces under strong criticism for failing to stop the repeated attacks of IS militants on security forces and civilians, as well as kidnapping dozens of people at fake checkpoints on a main road between Baghdad and Kirkuk.

On Dec 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the IS. However, small groups of IS militants have since regrouped in rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians from time to time.