Iraqi forces strike ISIS positions in ongoing campaign against group’s remnants

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq announced on Wednesday that at least two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants were killed in an Iraqi airstrike in the vicinity of Kirkuk province.

The airstrike conducted on Monday targeted an ISIS hideout near Kirkuk, Baghdad’s Security Media Cell explained. An army dispatch which visited the location of the strike found “the bodies of two terrorists,” the cell added. 

ISIS seized control of large swathes of territory in Iraq north and west in 2014. After several years of battles, Iraq in 2017 announced the group’s defeat, however its remnants continue to pose a security threat, particularly in disputed areas across Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday reported that Iraqi forces on Monday “conducted precision airstrikes in the vicinity of Kirkuk,” killing “two ISIS operatives” who had explosive materials in their possession. CENTCOM described the operation as “part of the ongoing Defeat-ISIS campaign to disrupt and degrade” the group’s “capabilities, dismantle their attack networks, and ensure its enduring defeat.” 

The latest strike is seemingly part of Iraq’s continued effort to eliminate ISIS sleeper cells. On Saturday, Baghdad announced that at least three suspected Islamic State (ISIS) leaders, including the group’s so-called “governor of Kirkuk,” were killed in an Iraqi airstrike late last month.