Security

Iraqi forces conduct anti-ISIS operation as terrorist attacks continue ahead of election

Backed by coalition air support, the Iraqi military reportedly conducted an operation Thursday against suspected ISIS remnants near the Atshan Mountains of Nineveh province.

Kurdistan 24 2021/09/02 19:20

Iraq ISIS Iraq Election

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi military has conducted an operation to target suspected ISIS members in rural Nineveh province amid a growing number of terrorist attacks ahead of the national parliamentary elections planned for October 10.

The US-led coalition against ISIS supported the latest Iraqi military campaign, local media cited security sources as saying. A joint force from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service and the army struck the Atshan Mountains, about 20 kilometers west of Mosul, backed by coalition air support.

The source explained that the operation led to multiple ISIS casualties, though the numbers were not immediately apparent, and the destruction of terrorist cell's hideout.

The campaign came amid a growing number of reported attacks by members of the terrorist organization, which the Iraqi government declared in late 2017 territorially defeated.

Early Thursday, close to 30 suspected ISIS fighters killed at least one Iraqi soldier and kidnapped a civilian in an attack on a village in the disputed Kirkuk province countryside, one local source told Kurdistan 24.

Following its territorial defeat in 2017 at the hands of the Iraqi and Kurdish forces, ISIS remnants regularly launch attacks in territories disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government due to what Kurdish officials have described as a “security vacuum.”

In Diyala province, residents have recently expressed concerns about ISIS movements in rugged, difficult terrain such as Hamrin Mountain.