ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi forces killed three “terrorists” in an airstrike in Kirkuk’s Pirde (Altun Kupri) district late Friday and arrested a fourth suspect accused of transporting them, as security operations intensify against suspected Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells in the province.
“Security units in the Kirkuk Operations Command succeeded … in executing a qualitative mission and a precision airstrike in the Altun Kupri area,” the Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement, adding that the “operation resulted in the killing of three terrorists, and the terrorist element responsible for transporting them was also apprehended.”
The statement did not specify whether the targeted individuals were affiliated with ISIS, which seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before being territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 following three years of intense fighting.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS continues to pose a security threat through sleeper cells, particularly in the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, which stretch across parts of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin provinces.
Friday’s airstrike followed a similar operation on Monday, when Iraqi forces tracked down three suspected ISIS militants south of Kirkuk and bombed their hideout. Ahead of that operation, Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah visited the province to inspect troop deployments and assess the security situation.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Interior Minister Yasser al-Maliki reaffirmed that “the security of the province is one of the ministry’s priorities” during a visit to Kirkuk, emphasizing that “the province holds the government’s attention.”
Security operations have intensified across the province since an Iraqi military officer was killed during clashes with ISIS militants in July, prompting a series of retaliatory airstrikes targeting militant hideouts using F-16 fighter jets and combat helicopters.
In a separate operation in Pirde on September 27, two Kurdish teenagers were killed during clashes between Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) forces and suspected ISIS militants, sparking public outrage. The ICTS initially identified one of the victims as a militant but later acknowledged that both were civilians. The agency said the operation also resulted in the killing of a suspected ISIS member, the arrest of another, and injuries to four of its personnel. Iraqi authorities subsequently launched investigations into the civilian deaths.
