ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least five security force members were killed in a deadly skirmish with suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in central Iraq on Saturday.
The clash erupted after Iraqi security forces cornered ISIS fighters in an orchard in Diyala province where vision was limited due to the large number of trees and bushes, according to a statement from Diyala Joint Operations Command.
Iraqi forces were carrying out a security operation to clear remnants of the group from the area.
“Five [security force members] were killed. Two of them were army soldiers and three were policemen. One of the policemen is a lieutenant colonel. The operation continues as our security forces are carefully combing the area,” Haytham al-Shammari, spokesperson for Diyala’s police command, told Rudaw.
The Joint Operations Command said that several ISIS fighters were also killed, but did not specify the number.
At least two ISIS militants were killed as a result of a security operation in the same area on Friday.
ISIS rose to power and seized control of large swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017 when its so-called caliphate in the country fell to Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group continues to carry out hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions in several provinces, particularly in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, which stretch across the provinces of Salahaddin, Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.