ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish Peshmerga and Asayesh (security) forces launched a widespread raid in pursuit of Islamic State (ISIS) militants near the Iraq-Iran border on Sunday and arrested ten suspects, according to Kurdish security force officials. Multiple Peshmerga brigades and Garmiyan Asayesh forces were involved in the raid south of the town of Kolajo, Diyala province. Ten armed suspects who had disguised themselves as farmers were captured in the area, described as a prohibited militarized zone. "The captured suspects were carrying arms," Peshmerga commander Sherko Hama Salih said. "Our operations will continue. Daesh [Islamic State] has switched to partisan [hit and run] tactics." Increased ISIS activity forced the Peshmerga to change their tactics "from the defensive to offensive," Salih added. "We will from now conduct operations in any place where there is information of ISIS conducting activities," he said. "We will uproot them." Today's raid saw the identification of ten new locations to establish observation posts, he added. According to Asayesh official, the aim of the operation was to clear 20 different locations in and around Kolajo of ISIS presence. Satellite images provided by the US-led counter-ISIS coalition were used to assist the operation, he added. "We raided all the designated areas... The operation included all the dangerous places where ISIS militants were hiding," Captain Jasim Mohammed of Garmiyan’s Asayesh told Rudaw. Over the past two months, Kolajo has witnessed several attacks by ISIS remnants and sleeper cells. The town, situated 188 kilometers southeast of Erbil between Kalar and Tuz Khurmatu, is currently under the control of the Peshmerga and Asayesh. Today's operation comes after a spate of ISIS attacks in Diyala in recent weeks. An attack on Peshmerga forces in Kolajo on November 29 killed a commander and two other force members. As a result of the resurgence, more Peshmerga have been deployed to the area, and the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs has already called on the international community to increase its military support. ISIS seized vast areas of northern Iraq in the summer of 2014. At the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly the size of Great Britain, spread across both Iraq and Syria. It was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. Two years later, international warnings of an ISIS resurgence continue to ring out. The latest US Pentagon inspector general report covering July 1 to Oct 25 said ISIS has continued to cement and expand its command and control structure in Iraq, enabling the group to stage more attacks. “ISIS in Iraq conducted both attacks of opportunity, such as improvised bombs and hit-and-run attacks, and attacks designed to intimidate or gain influence, such as assassinations, kidnappings, and sniper attacks,” the report read, citing the Combined Joint Task Force–OIR (CJTF-OIR) which leads the fight against the militant group. Reporting by Halo Mohammed
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