“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the cowardly terrorist attacks near Kirkuk and Albu Bali, Iraq on Sunday, 18 December,” read a press statement from the Security Council, reiterating their “support for the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, democratic process and prosperity of Iraq.”
The statement came after an ISIS attack on a village in western Diyala province on Monday led to the deaths of at least eight people with an additional three injured, marking the second deadly ISIS attack within two days.
The attack on Diyala is the second in a spate of attacks by ISIS cells in two days, with the terror group continuing to pose a serious threat to residents, particularly those in villages that lie in the proximity of the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil.
A deadly ISIS attack in Kirkuk province killed at least seven members of the federal Iraqi police on Sunday, prompting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to direct an investigation into the attack.
US Department of Defense spokesperson Patrick Ryder on Tuesday reiterated the Pentagon’s commitment in countering ISIS with Iraq.
“We have a long standing relationship with Iraq when it comes to countering ISIS, this again is why it is so important that we continue to work together in that region to confront the threat that ISIS presents,” he said during the Department of Defense’s weekly press briefing.
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 terror group is particularly active in areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, including parts of Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala.
