Extremists from Daesh (ISIS) and fighters from Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition were locked in fierce clashes near Mosul Tuesday, with nearly 30 reported dead, the coalition said.
Mosul, Iraq's second city, was retaken from Daesh in July after a massive months-long offensive.
"Waad Allah forces are repelling [a Daesh] attack southwest of Mosul in the Hatra desert" some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Mosul, said a spokesman for the Hashed unit.
The Hashed is an umbrella group of paramilitary auxiliaries formed in 2014 to support Iraqi regular forces after Daesh swept across swathes of northern Iraq.
In a series of online posts, Waad Allah said Daesh sent "numerous suicide bombers" to attack its forces, and gave a death toll of 24 extremists and four of its own men.
Iraqi forces have retaken more than 90 percent of the territory Daesh seized in the country in 2014, with the extremists now confined to the desert areas in Anbar province bordering Syria.
But despite a series of stinging defeats, Daesh in Iraq retains the ability to launch attacks in areas declared "liberated" months previously.
After losing Mosul in July, Daesh has also just lost Raqqa, its "capital" in Syria.
The Hashed took over the Hatra area in April this year after Daesh forces were ousted.
The ancient walled city of Hatra in northern Nineveh province is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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