ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic State (ISIS) fighters attacked the Iraqi army in the disputed province of Kirkuk on Saturday, killing four soldiers, a local official said.
Amir Nuri, spokesperson for Kirkuk police, told Rudaw on Saturday that a group of ISIS fighters attacked the Iraqi army in Qara Hanjir subdistrict. As a result, four soldiers were killed.
The area is located on the Iraqi government’s borders with the Kurdistan Region.
A search and inspection operation has been launched by the army to arrest the ISIS fighters.
Iraqi Security Media Cell said on Friday that the security forces in a number of Iraqi northern provinces, including Kirkuk, arrested 15 ISIS fighters “based on accurate intelligence information.”
Iraq on Thursday launched a fresh phase of an ongoing operation ISIS remnants in the northern province of Mosul.
The operation, dubbed “Solid Will,” is an extension of an expansive effort by the Iraqi army, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and Kurdish Peshmerga forces seeking to eliminate the presence of ISIS from the country.
ISIS seized control of vast parts of Iraq in 2014 during its brazen rise to power, but the terror group was declared territorially defeated in 2017. While the group remains devoid of any territorial control, it still continues to pose security risks through abductions, hit-and-run attacks, and bombings, especially in the disputed territories.
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