Iraqi airstrike kills five ISIS suspects in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi fighter jets killed five suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants in a strike on a hideout in southwest Kirkuk province, the federal government’s security cell announced on Saturday. 

The airstrike was carried out by the Joint Operations Command on Friday in the Zughaitoun Valley in southwest Kirkuk. 

When Iraqi forces reached the site on Saturday, they discovered the bodies of five suspected ISIS fighters inside the hideout. They also found two explosive belts, grenades, and other ammunition.

“We will persist in intensive security operations to eliminate ISIS terrorism wherever it may be,” read the statement from the Security Media Cell. 

ISIS was in control of swathes of Iraqi territory at its height in 2014. The Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga fought to retake areas of the country controlled by the extremists and declared the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2017. The United States-led global coalition provided both forces with air and ground support, as well as training and equipment.

Iraqi officials have said that the threat from the terror group is contained, but the armed forces continue to carry out regular operations against suspected militants.

Last week, ISIS planted an improvised explosive device on a road in the Tuz Khurmatu district of Salahaddin province that exploded, killing two Peshmerga who were part of a joint Kurdish-Iraqi brigade. 

The American and British consulates in Erbil condemned the attack and repeated their support for Erbil and Baghdad in the fight against the extremist group.