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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government announced Monday the deaths of five security members and wounding of three others by remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS) in three separate incidents in Diyala and Kirkuk provinces.
"As a result of clashes with Daesh militants in Mahbubiya village, Khan Bani Saad district [in Diyala province], a soldier from the army's 19th Infantry Division was martyred," announced the Iraqi Security Cell, using the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group.
"A backup security force immediately arrived at the scene of the fight. When arriving, a landmine was triggered, killing another three soldiers and wounding an officer and a soldier," the statement added.
In a separate incident, a policeman from the Fifth Division of the Iraqi Federal Police, was killed by ISIS remnants in Mariam Bag village, Rashad sub-district in Kirkuk province, added the security cell statement.
A third attack took place near the town of Dibis, also in Kirkuk after "Daesh remnants opened fire on Iraqi forces, wounding a policeman from the Police Commando Division - Brigade 4 ."
These latest attacks mark the continuation of a wave of deadly assaults on Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in the disputed territories in recent weeks.
Concerns have been raised that extremist groups might exploit the upheaval created by the coronavirus pandemic to win over more supporters and strike harder than before.
While searching for four Iraqi intelligence personnel abducted by the group's militants, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded on April 13.
ISIS militants also killed an Iraqi federal police officer at a checkpoint in Hawija, western Kirkuk on April 12, according to defense officials.
Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari vowed last week to 'ramp up' the government’s anti-ISIS efforts, and stop the group's attacks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
ISIS seized vast swathes of Syria and northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, including Mosul and other large Sunni-majority cities. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. However, a low intensity insurgency has continued in territories disputed by the governments of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, with militants exploiting the resulting security vacuums between. Bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, extortion, and arson have continued without relent.
Jabar Yawar, chief of staff at the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, warned last week the ISIS resurgence has been underway for some time.
“According to our data, the group increased its activities in 2018 and 2019, especially in Kurdistani areas outside of the Kurdistan Region administration, including Diyala, Hamrin, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, and Qarachogh. In Qarachogh, they even established bases,” Yawar told Rudaw.
Edited by Yasmine Mosimann
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