ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A spokesperson for the Iraqi army on Monday revealed that they had killed over 200 Islamic State (ISIS) fighters only in 2022. Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command, told Rudaw on Monday that “the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq is low and those existing are Iraqis." He added that the group has exploited the security gas between the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in disputed areas. “Over 200 terrorists have been killed through aerial attacks, with most of them being ISIS leaders,” said the spokesperson. ISIS seized large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014 and declared a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions across several provinces. Several Iraqi soldiers were killed in two separate attacks by ISIS in Kirkuk and Diyala recently. US Department of Defense spokesperson Patrick Ryder last week reiterated the Pentagon’s commitment in countering ISIS with Iraq. “We have a long standing relationship with Iraq when it comes to countering ISIS, this again is why it is so important that we continue to work together in that region to confront the threat that ISIS presents,” he said during the Department of Defense’s weekly press briefing.
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