ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi army on Sunday launched an operation targeting Islamic State (ISIS) cells in Kirkuk province after a spate of attacks by the militant group left nearly a dozen dead in the country.
“A joint force from the Iraqi army and Popular Mobilization Forces [PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi] carried out a security operation … to pursue the remnants of ISIS, eliminate its movements, and secure the area completely,” state media said, citing a PMF statement.
It comes after a spate of ISIS attacks in Diyala and Makhmour over the last week that has raised concern about sleeper cell activities in the disputed territories.
On Thursday evening, a suspected ISIS assault in Diyala’s Muqdadiya district (known as Sharaban in Kurdish) left at least ten civilians dead and 17 injured.
On Friday, at least one Iraqi soldier was killed and five injured when suspected ISIS gunmen attacked an army position near Erbil province’s Makhmour.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017 when its so-called caliphate in the country fell as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, claimed back lands lost to the jihadists.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group has continued to pose a serious security threat to the country through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions in several provinces, particularly in areas disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which stretch across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, and Kirkuk.
Joint Iraqi-Peshmerga brigades are expected begin securing these disputed areas this month, two years after the planned coordination was first agreed upon. The two forces have completed operations this past week around Qarachogh and Gwer, according to Peshmerga Commander Sirwan Barzani.