ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi warplanes on Thursday targeted a hideout of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Kirkuk province, with four suspected members of the group inside, during a joint cooperation with Kurdish security forces.
“The strike targeted an important hideout belonging to the terrorists, which was a cave housing an ISIS cell consisting of four members in areas of mutual concern between the provinces of Kirkuk and Sulaimani,” read a statement from the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC).
The strike took place after the suspected militants infiltrated the Shwan area in Kirkuk province, according to a statement from the General Directorate of Operations of the Kurdistan Region's security forces (Asayish).
Asayish said the militants were killed during the operation.
The strike in territories disputed between the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the latest in an ongoing effort to rid the country of ISIS cells, in areas where a security vacuum allows them to operate.
ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014, sweeping across vast stretches of northern and central Iraq.
But the jihadists’ so-called “caliphate” was brought to an end in 2017 as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, clawed back territory from the group.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS has continued to pose security threats in Iraq through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, particularly in the disputed territories that stretch across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.
A joint operation between Iraqi counterterrorism forces and Asayish in Sulaimani on Thursday, captured a man in the province who was charged with being an ISIS leader in Iraq's western Anbar province; concurrently, Iraqi counterterrorism units apprehended another ISIS militant in in Anbar.
On Tuesday, an Iraqi airstrike killed four suspected ISIS members including an “important leader,” in Kirkuk province.
In late August, a joint operation by the Iraqi army and US forces in the western Anbar province killed 16 suspected ISIS militants, and the US military later said that the operation killed four ISIS leaders.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi army announced that over 100 ISIS members have been killed since the beginning of the year.
Updated at 10:27 am
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment