“An airstrike was carried out on Monday by F-16 aircraft … and a battalion went to search the site on Tuesday on the outskirts of the al-Azim dam within the Diyala Operations Command sector, and found three bodies,” state media said, citing a statement from Iraq’s Security Media Cell.
Among the dead was “one of the leaders of the terrorist ISIS gangs,” the statement said.
“Day after day, the noose is tightening on the remaining elements of the terrorist ISIS gangs, thanks to the great efforts of the security forces,” it said, adding that the Iraqi army found “terrorist hideouts, criminal evidence, and technical and logistical material” at the site.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014, but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017 when its so-called caliphate in the country fell as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, claimed back lands lost to the extremists.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group has continued to pose a serious security threat to the country through hit-and-run attacks, bombings and abductions in several provinces, particularly in areas disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which stretch across several provinces including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin and Kirkuk.
Iraq’s air force regularly pursues and targets ISIS hideouts across the country, particularly in the disputed areas.
In late June, at least seven ISIS members were killed in two separate airstrikes in the Salahaddin province, days after three ISIS members were killed in an operation in Kirkuk.
