BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber killed two Iraqi generals on Thursday in Anbar province, a key battleground against Daesh (the so-called IS) group, as the militants made gains in northern Syria.

Daesh overran large areas of Iraq in 2014 and seized Anbar capital Ramadi earlier this year. It also controls major territory in neighboring Syria, where it has thrived amid a bloody civil war. The suicide bomber in an explosives-rigged vehicle struck in the Al-Jaraishi area north of Ramadi as Iraqi forces advanced, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool told AFP. He said the attack killed the deputy head of the Anbar Operations Command, Staff Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman Abu Raghif, and 10th Division commander Staff Brig. Gen. Safin Abdulmajid. A statement from the Joint Operations Command confirmed the deaths of the two officers along with an unspecified number of other “heroic martyrs”. The death or injury of senior Iraqi officers during battles against Daesh is a persistent problem for the country. Two heads of the Anbar Operations Command have been wounded this year, while the commanders of a division and a brigade were killed in Anbar in April. — AFP