Counter Terrorism Service officer killed in Kirkuk clash with ISIS

KIRKUK — A Counter Terrorism Service officer was killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in Kirkuk governorate, the service said Sunday.

The service identified the officer as Hassan Khudair Zughair. Its chief, Karim al-Tamimi, said Zughair had died “defending our beloved homeland during clashes with the terrorist ISIS gangs in Kirkuk,” and that the service would “spare no effort in cleansing our beloved land” of the group. He extended condolences to the officer’s family and fellow service members.

Islamic State seized large parts of northern and western Iraq in 2014 before Iraqi forces declared its territorial defeat in 2017. The group has since operated through sleeper cells and small units, particularly in desert and rural areas, where security forces run regular counterterrorism operations.

In late June, the air force carried out two strikes on an IS hideout in a remote part of Anbar, according to the Joint Operations Command.

Earlier that month, Military Intelligence said it had arrested a figure it identified as Abu Musab, described as responsible for distributing payments to IS members and their families in the group’s self-declared Euphrates Province.