ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi air force carried out an operation against Islamic State (ISIS) remnants in northeastern Diyala province on Sunday, killing two suspected members of the militant group.
F-16 jets conducted the operation at al-Sadiyah town with intelligence information from the interior ministry and the Iraqi intelligence agency, Iraq’s Security Media Cell said early Monday morning.
The strikes killed two ISIS members, it added.
ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but it remains a serious security threat.
Multiple ISIS suspects have recently been arrested across the Kurdistan Region, including in Erbil.
Security forces arrested a group affiliated with ISIS in the Kurdish capital on Saturday. Two ISIS arms smugglers were also captured in Erbil on Thursday.
The arrests followed a surge in ISIS attacks against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, exploiting the security vacuum in territories disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.
Earlier this month, the group attacked the Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk, resulting in deaths and injuries. ISIS has killed 22 Kurdish fighters since November 27.
Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed in an ISIS attack in Kirkuk.
Kurdish and Iraqi officials held a high-level security meeting to ramp up cooperation in disputed areas.
The increase in ISIS activities come as the US-led coalition formally shifts its combat role in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to focus on military advising and training. Around 2,500 American soldiers will remain stationed in the country and the Region.
In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 9 attacks in Iraq from December 9 to December 15, killing and injuring 25 people.
