Iraq kills over 10 ISIS suspects, including top leaders in airstrikes

At least four other suspects were targeted by two F-16 airstrikes on the banks of Lake Hamrin in Diyala province

Kurdistan 24 2022/09/11 11:10

Two senior ISIS operatives were killed by a targeted Iraqi airstrike in Anbar province that destroyed their vehicle, Feb. 17, 2022. (Photo: Iraqi Security Media Cell/Facebook)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi fighter jets killed more than 10 suspected ISIS militants, including senior leaders, in a number of airstrikes they had conducted recently, a military media announced on Saturday.

In at least two airstrikes in the western province of Anbar, at least seven suspected members of the group were killed, among whom was Hamood Hamada Ali Houesh known by nom de guerre, Abu Nihad, the Iraqi military’s Security Media Cell announced on Saturday.

At least four other suspects were targeted by two F-16 airstrikes on the banks of Lake Hamrin in Diyala province, including a top leader named Wisam Ali Hamad, the military added.

The top commander was responsible for the beheading of an Iraqi colonel Yasser Al-Jourani, the cell added, publishing aerial footage of the deadly strikes conducted in late August.

The military media also published photos of the slain ISIS leaders.

The airstrikes destroyed a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near the lake, according to the statement.

It is one of the deadliest strikes the remnants of the group have suffered since their territorial loss in 2017 at the hands of Iraqi and Kurdish forces with the air support and training of the US-led Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

Iraqi forces regularly conduct airstrikes in the remote areas targeting the hideouts of the terror group, against which the security forces regularly warn.

Having been “no man’s land” since the ouster of Peshmerga forces in 2017, the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad in Kirkuk, Diyala, and Saladin provinces have been a hotbed for growing ISIS activities.