Explosion kills two Iraqi officers, injures two in Kirkuk’s Dubz district

KIRKUK — A bomb planted on a roadside exploded near an Iraqi military vehicle in Kirkuk’s Dubz district, killing two officers and injuring two others.

The bomb exploded Wednesday evening in the Ghara mountain area of Dubz as a military convoy was patrolling the region, according to a source from the Iraqi Army. The bomb detonated during a search operation.

The device exploded near a unit from the 8th Infantry Division, part of the 32nd Brigade of the Iraqi Army, according to the source. The blast claimed the life of First Lieutenant Laith Hilali, head of the brigade’s reconnaissance unit, and left another officer and a soldier severely wounded. All the injured were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The source said the bomb likely dates back to the war against ISIS, when the area was under the group’s control.

Adnan Ahmad, head of the emergency department at Azadi Hospital in Kirkuk, confirmed to 964media that two dead soldiers and two injured personnel were received at the hospital, with the remains transferred to the forensic department.

The Ghara area, located west of Kirkuk, was previously under ISIS control before being recaptured by Peshmerga forces in 2016.

Although ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, remnants of the group still pose a threat. Security forces continue to conduct daily operations against these remaining cells. The Islamic State, which declared a caliphate in 2014, lost its last stronghold in Syria in 2019.

In mid-July, three days of clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants in Khan Bani Saad, Diyala governorate, left six security personnel dead and several others wounded.

Recent incidents in Salah Al-Din governorate and other regions also highlight the persistent danger. On May 14, an attack killed an army officer and four soldiers, while a vehicle bombing near Suleiman Beg a week later left one dead and four others injured. Another attack the following day resulted in the deaths of five family members on the Baiji-Haditha Road in Anbar governorate, attributed to newly planted improvised explosive devices.

A United Nations report from January estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 ISIS fighters remain active in Iraq and Syria, continuing to pose a serious security challenge. On July 16, U.S. Central Command warned that ISIS is attempting to “reconstitute” in Iraq and Syria, with the number of attacks nearly doubling compared to last year.