Iraqi airstrike kills three ISIS suspects

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Islamic State (ISIS) suspects, including two leaders, were killed in an airstrike south of the ancient city of Hatra, Iraqi Security Media Cell announced on Saturday.

"In response to the recent cowardly, treacherous terrorist activities, and through field follow-up and intensification of intelligence efforts of the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency in the Ministry of Interior, as well as the Joint Operations Command, two leaders of the ISIS terrorist gang were followed up," Iraq's Security Media Cell said in a tweet. 

"The terrorist gangs of ISIS, namely the terrorist named Abu Issam, who holds the position of the so-called official of the Tigris sector, and the criminal terrorist Abu Mahmoud, were riding a pickup truck and wearing two explosive belts, accompanied by a third terrorist," noted the statement, as it described who the members were.

The air force was provided with the information, which in turn directed a precise airstrike on their location south of Hatra between the districts of Hawija and Baiji, killing the members and destroying the vehicle.

The attack come a day after a deadly ISIS attack on an Iraqi base in Diyala province that killed 11 soldiers. The terror group claimed responsibility for the attack. 

ISIS seized control of swathes of land in Iraq in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but it continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces. ISIS remnants are particularly active in parts of northern Iraq that are disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, including in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala, and Salahaddin.

The terror group launched over 257 offensives, killing 387 and injuring 518 people, including Iraqi and Kurdish fighters over the past year. 

Iraqi and security forces often carry operations to arrest members of the terror group.

In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 6 attacks in Iraq from January 13 to January 19, killing and injuring 17 people.