A member of Iraq’s armed forces told Rudaw on condition of anonymity that one of his colleagues from the 44th Brigade was killed in a valley located on the border of Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces.
“Despite a response from my colleagues, no ISIS members were hurt. They managed to run away,” said the soldier, who was off-duty at the time of the attack, but was told what occurred by his fellow soldiers.
The incident took place in Shay Valley in the Daquq district of Kirkuk province.
ISIS has not immediately claimed responsibility.
The Iraqi government has said that ISIS is no longer a public security threat as the group has been confined. Baghdad is now in talks with the United States to wind down the global mission against the terror group in Iraq.
ISIS rose to power and seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017 when its so-called caliphate fell as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, claimed back land lost to the jihadists.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group has continued to carry out hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions in several areas, particularly in regions disputed between Erbil and Baghdad stretching across the provinces of Salahaddin, Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.
