ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Services (ICTS) killed seven Islamic State (ISIS) militants, among them ISIS officials, “in direct clashes” in southern Kirkuk province on Wednesday, ICTS announced in a statement.
Three ISIS engineering, medical and communications officials, as well as four fighters, were killed at dawn on Wednesday in the Wadi al-Shay region in southern Kirkuk province, the counter-terror force said.
A Peshmerga ministry official warned on Tuesday of ISIS’ growing strength and reorganization in Iraq, particularly in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
ISIS claimed in its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba that it had killed and injured at least 40 people in 30 operations in Iraq from January 15 to January 21, including deadly suicide bombings in the capital Baghdad.
Peshmerga officials say their activity is lower than claimed, however.
“There have been around 15 activities from January 1 until now, most of them were in [disputed] regions like Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahaddin,” Deputy Minister of Peshmerga Sarbast Lazgin told Rudaw’s Hawraz Gulpy on Tuesday.
Though ISIS was declared militarily defeated in Iraq in December 2017, remnants of the terrorist group have been able to continue conducting attacks in territory disputed between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where security is patchy. Kirkuk was under Kurdish control until October 2017, when Iraqi forces retook the disputed territories following the KRG’s failed independence referendum.
Kirkuk province constitutes part of the territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The absence of the Peshmerga in some parts of the disputed territories has “intensified problems,” deputy Iraqi parliament speaker Bashir al-Haddad said on January 4.
Two ISIS militants were killed in an airstrike in Kirkuk province on January 3.
Peshmerga Affairs Minister Shorsh Ismail said his ministry is looking forward to reaching “a political agreement” with the Iraqi government to return the Peshmerga forces to the disputed territories.
