ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi forces foiled a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) attack in Kirkuk province late on Tuesday, as Iraqi and Peshmerga fighters launch joint operations to increase cooperation in disputed territories where the terror group remains active.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) thwarted an ISIS attack in Kirkuk’s Dibis town after “ISIS remnants attacked checkpoints of the Iraqi army,” state media reported.
No group has made any comments yet about the recent offensive.
ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but has continued to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and kidnappings across several provinces.
Due to the existing security vacuum, the militants have taken shelter in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala.
ISIS on Friday claimed responsibility for injuring two Peshmerga fighters in Makhmour town’s Mount Qarachogh, an area that has seen deadly ISIS offensives, leading to the launch of joint operations between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in its villages.
Baghdad and Erbil are engaged in talks aimed at forming two joint brigades in the disputed areas as ISIS continues to kill and abduct both Peshmerga and Iraqi fighters.
The terror group has launched over 257 offensives, killing 387 and injuring 518 people, including Iraqi and Kurdish fighters over the past year.
In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 19 attacks in Iraq from January 27 to February 2, killing and injuring 30 people.
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