ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi army has killed over 100 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group since the beginning of the year, a spokesperson for the Iraqi army said on Tuesday, assuring that the fight against the group will continue. “Since the beginning of 2023, 105 terrorists from ISIS gangs have been killed in various operations, mostly airstrikes and qualitative operations,” Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command, told state media. The spokesperson affirmed that the fight against ISIS continues “even in geographically complex areas” and that the capabilities of the Iraqi army are expanding to more precisely identify areas where ISIS cells exist. ISIS seized large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014 and declared a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions across several provinces. The militants have particularly taken shelter in a security vacuum in parts of northern Iraq that are disputed between Baghdad and Erbil, stretching across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, and Kirkuk. “We believe that reaching this number of deaths in geographically complex areas is a major achievement in our scope of work against terrorism and to combat terrorists in areas that they believe can be safe havens,” Khafaji added. A numver of ISIS militants were killed on Sunday when Iraqi warplanes delivered an airstrike to their hideout in Diyala province. https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/070520231 In December, Khafaji revealed that the Iraqi army had killed over 200 ISIS fighters in 2022.
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