Joint Peshmerga, Coalition operation kills several IS fighters near Makhmour

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces and the US-led Coalition conducted a joint operation against the Islamic State (IS) near Makhmour, killing several members of the extremist group.

In a joint military operation by the Kurdish forces and the anti-IS Coalition on Saturday, several IS extremists were killed, including a senior member of the group, Sirwan Barzani, Commander of the Peshmerga forces at the Gwer frontline, told Kurdistan 24.

The operation was conducted in Qarachokh Mountain near the town of Makhmour, southwest of Erbil. 

Rizgar Mohammed, the Mayor of Makhmour, previously told Kurdistan 24 that IS militants had increased their activities near the town, posing a direct threat to people’s lives in the area.

“Unfortunately, the presence and activities of Da’esh in some villages and districts of Makhmour is a fact that cannot be denied,” Mohammed said, using the Arabic pejorative for IS.

In March 2017, the US-led coalition fired airstrikes at extremists close to a Peshmerga frontline in the disputed area of Makhmour, killing at least seven extremists.

Since the removal of the Iraqi dictatorship in 2003, the town has been under the administration of the Kurdistan Region.

Following a military offensive on Kurdish forces last October, the region is now under the control of Iraqi troops and the Iran-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia.

Attacks by IS in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces have also risen over the past few months as fake security checkpoints and assassinations target civilians and Iraqi security forces.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany