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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces on Thursday destroyed the "main" Islamic State (ISIS) hideout in the Hamrin mountain range that crosses Kirkuk and Salahaddin governorates, as Erbil and Baghdad work towards forming two joint brigades to counter the militant group’s remnants.
In coordination with the Joint Operation Command, an airstrike targeted an ISIS hideout that is “considered to be the operation center for launching terrorist attacks in Kirkuk,” the Security Media Cell said.
Four members of the militant group died, it added, as the search for other ISIS hideouts continues.
Kirkuk has been a hotspot for ISIS activity and has seen a recent increase in attacks.
The militant group seized control of swathes of Iraq in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but still remains a threat, carrying out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
Thirteen Iraqi police officers were killed and injured after the group targeted a federal checkpoint in the province earlier this month. A number of civilians were injured and abducted in a separate attack on September 2.
The US-led global coalition destroyed five ISIS hideouts in the Hamrin mountain range in May.
ISIS has exploited a security vacuum in territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. The Peshmerga ministry announced in July they were working on the formation of two joint brigades of Iraqi and Peshmerga forces to counter ISIS remnants in the disputed areas, cooperating in order to reduce the threat of the group’s resurgence.
The brigades are expected to be completed after elections.
Militants have conducted around 134 attacks in disputed territories so far this year, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Jabar Yawar told Rudaw last month, noting that most of the attacks took place in areas between Kifri and Tuz Khurmatu, as well as in eastern and western Kirkuk.
In the latest edition of its weekly propaganda magazine al-Nabaa, ISIS claimed it carried out 22 attacks in Iraq, killing and injuring 49 people.
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