Khalid Kelly did not kill any Iraqi forces and was blown up by an anti-tank rocket, according to a spokesman for the Iraqi forces he targeted in a suicide mission.
The Islamic State group, also known as Isis, claimed Kelly, named Abu Usama Al-Irlandi by the group, died on Friday in a suicide attack which killed and wounded ‘dozens’ of Iraqi forces from the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) often referred to as Shia militias.
But a spokesman for the PMU told The Irish Times that there were 'no deaths, thank God' from the Irishman's suicide attack. Kelly drove a DIY armoured vehicle laden with explosives towards PMU Iraqi forces on Friday before blowing himself up.
‘We had eight injured troops from shrapnel and blast wave. No deaths thank God,’ the PMU spokesman said.
‘He was stopped with the second RPG7 that got the vehicle but was close enough that shrapnel reached some troops not sheltered in vehicles.’
'We anticipate Tal Afar will be reached next week,' the spokesman said in reference to the Isis stronghold west of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city which an international coalition of military forces has been seeking to liberate from Isis control since mid-October.
“Al Irlandi was killed in al-Masayid. The [PMU]advance was not halted at all, the village was liberated over three days ago and this attack did not change this.”
“We have a significant number of troops across the front lines and the formation we operate in is a spread out a formation with anti-tank guided missiles on our technicals and humvees.”
‘We also have lighter anti-tank weapons such as RPG7s and SPG-9s in use. Our 23mm, 14.5 and 12.7mm heavy machine guns are also in use but offer less defence against suicide trucks.”
“These formations alongside constant building of new sand berms have allowed us to channel Islamic State suicide trucks into shooting areas we have over watch on. It is end of story at that stage.”
“We have not announced it yet but as of 10 hours ago we have liberated 2000 square kilometres in our first week of Tal Afar operations, 59 villages liberated - we will be posting a list - as well as 200 Islamic State fighters killed and an unprecedented 60+ suicide trucks. These have thankfully been almost entirely failed attempts.”
A propaganda arm of the Islamic State group released figures on Saturday which claimed they had launched 79 suicide car bombs against Iraqi forces since the start of the Mosul offensive. It is understood that Kelly’s death is included in that figure.
The Popular Mobilisation Units are commonly known as Shia militias although the force of about 70,000 is known to include Christians and Sunni Muslims.
They were formalised following the rise of Islamic State in 2014, have salaries paid by Baghdad and co-ordinate with commanders of the Iraqi Security Forces.
The PMU were not included in the ranks of Iraqi forces for the assault on Mosul, which began October 17th, but the group is advancing on Tal Afar, about 70km west of Mosul and intends to close Isis’ final escape route out of the city.