Peshmerga soldier loses leg in IED explosion near Tuz Khurmatu

ERBIL — A Peshmerga soldier was seriously injured after an improvised explosive device detonated in the Gharra area between Tuz Khurmatu and Kifri in Salah ad Din governorate, the Ministry of Peshmerga said on Monday.

“An ISIS-planted explosive device detonated near a Peshmerga soldier from the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Brigade, a joint unit with the Iraqi Army, in the Gharra area,” the ministry confirmed in its statement.

The injured soldier, identified as Mohammed Ahmed Ali, a resident of Tuz Khurmatu, lost a leg due to the explosion. The incident occurred during a routine patrol near the Suleiman Beg sub-district of Tuz Khurmatu district.

The joint unit is part of two brigades, made up of Peshmerga and Iraqi Army forces, consisting of 3,500 members. These units operate under the Iraqi Joint Operations Command and were established to address security gaps in disputed territories between the Kurdistan Region and other parts of Iraq. The decision to form the brigades was made in 2021 in response to ISIS threats in these areas, but their deployment was delayed until last month. Their mission is to secure a 560,000-square-kilometre area within these contested regions.

Though ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, remnants of the group remain active. Security forces continue to conduct operations against ISIS cells. The Islamic State declared a caliphate in 2014 but lost its last Syrian stronghold in 2019.