Bomb wounds senior Iraqi army officer: officials

A roadside bomb wounded a senior Iraqi army officer Saturday who had successfully commanded a major operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in November, officials said.

The blast hit Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi’s vehicle north of the militant-held city of Tikrit, wounding him and his driver, an army brigadier general said.

Ahmed al-Krayim, head of the Salaheddin provincial council, said that Saadi, a 55-year-old from southern Iraq who had served in ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s army, was lightly wounded.

Saadi, head of the Salaheddin Operations Command, led the operation in November that retook the strategic town of Baiji, which had been in ISIS hands for months.

Baiji is the largest town to be recaptured by government forces since IS-led militants overran much of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland in a sweeping offensive launched in June.