At 11pm on Tuesday, five ISIS hideouts were bombed, killing 11 militants, according to Sirwan Barzani, commander of the Peshmerga on the Gwer-Makhmour front.
Barzani did not detail whether Iraqi or US-led coalition jets struck the group’s positions, but he said coalition warplanes were spotted overhead through the night.
Peshmerga forces have carried out sporadic raids in coordination with US-led coalition warplanes to trace the whereabouts of ISIS remnants around Makhmour.
Barzani said ISIS movements are not taking place in areas patrolled by the Peshmerga.
“The ISIS moves are in areas that are controlled by the Iraqi forces,” Barzani said, adding there are currently no joint operations between the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces.
“But we maintain continued coordinations,” Barzani said.
Peshmerga have been stationed on the Qarachugh mountain outside Makhmour since pulling out of the town itself in the wake of the October 16 events, when Kurdish forces withdrew from the disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil.
Although the Iraqi government declared the defeat of ISIS in December 2017, there have been sporadic military confrontations between ISIS remnants and Iraqi Security Forces, including the Kurdish Peshmerga — around Makhmour and in the Hamrin mountains in Saladin province.
On Wednesday, a car bomb was detonated at a checkpoint in Qaim, Anbar province, killing 11 and injuring 16. Local officials believe it was suicide attack launched by an ISIS sleeper cell.
Between 20,000 and 30,000 Islamic State fighters remain in Iraq and Syria despite the jihadist group’s defeat and a halt in the flow of foreigners joining its ranks, according to a UN report released in mid-August.
In a 54-minute Eid al-Adha message released on Telegram last week, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urges his followers to “persevere”.
