ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A number of suspected Islamic State (ISIS) hideouts in Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces were destroyed by Iraqi airstrikes late Tuesday, state media reported, amid a spike in air raids on alleged jihadist locations in the country.
“The heroes of the air force carried out painful strikes on hideouts within the Kirkuk and East Salahaddin operations commands, which led to their destruction,” state media said, citing a statement from Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson to Iraq’s prime minister.
Rasool said that the strikes were conducted after “specialized aircraft carried out reconnaissance and surveillance” missions which revealed their locations.
No information on casualties was readily provided, and the strikes come as the Iraqi air force intensifies its anti-ISIS operations across the country, particularly in the disputed areas.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory during a brazen offensive in 2014, sweeping across vast stretches of northern and central Iraq.
The jihadists’ so-called “caliphate” ended in 2017 as Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, supported by a US-led international coalition, clawed back territory from the group.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS has continued to pose security threats in Iraq through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions particularly in areas disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) which stretch across provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Nineveh, and Kirkuk.
Two ISIS militants wearing explosive vests were killed during a clash with security forces in Kirkuk on Sunday, Iraq's interior ministry announced.
On Monday, Iraqi security forces arrested six ISIS members near the capital Baghdad and seized a pile of explosives.
Earlier this month, an Iraqi airstrike in the Hamrin mountain range in Diyala killed three ISIS militants.
In late August, a joint operation by the Iraqi army and US forces in the western Anbar province killed 16 ISIS militants, and the US military said on Saturday that the operation killed four ISIS leaders.
