Iraqi army deploys troops between Kirkuk and Makhmour to prevent ISIS movements

Security Control, 14th Infantry Division of the Iraqi Army is tasked with securing the area. 

The division is responsible for laying out ambushes, setting  up checkpoints, carrying out raids, and filling the security vacuum between the villages of Pungina and Bir Mehdi, near Mount Qarachogh.

Dibis, in Mosul province, is 56 kilometres south of Erbil. Makhmour, in Kirkuk province, is 60 kilometres southwest of the Kurdistan Region capital.

Rashad Galali, head of the PUK office in Makhmour told Rudaw that upon a decree from Baghdad "the 14th Infantry Division has been incorporated into the Kirkuk Operations Command and they have been deployed along the [Makhmour-Dibis] road."

Galali confirmed that they have erected outposts and checkpoints to "protect the security of the area."

ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017 by former PM Haider al-Abadi. However, between 14,000 and 18,000 ISIS militants are estimated to still be operating in Iraq and Syria, according to a UN report in February.  

ISIS insurgents, keen to recuperate their strength following their territorial defeat in Iraq, have now set their sights on the spring harvest of 27 villages on both sides of the Qarachogh mountains.

Related Story: Covering their tracks, ISIS assassins target local mukhtars

ISIS cells hiding out in the Qarachogh mountains have torched several local crop fields in recent weeks as farmers have refused to pay taxes that the militants are demanding. 

On April 27, ISIS ambushed a group of Kurdish civilians in the hills, among them an off-duty Kurdish Asayesh officer. After checking his phone and seeing  pictures of him in uniform, the militants kidnapped and later executed him. 

In the past and on several occasions, the US-led coalition has targeted ISIS militants in the Qarachogh mountain region, killing dozens.