Iraqi F-16s hit ISIS hideouts near Kirkuk after officer killed

KIRKUK — Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said Sunday that F-16 jets had carried out three airstrikes on Islamic State hideouts north of Kirkuk, hours after a Counter-Terrorism Service officer was killed during a search of sites hit in earlier raids.

A Counter-Terrorism Service unit had been sent to inspect locations struck in Saturday’s airstrikes when a clash broke out, killing a first lieutenant and one militant, the command said. The service identified the officer as Hassan Khudair Zughair. Its chief, Karim al-Tamimi, said Zughair had died “defending our beloved homeland” in the clashes and pledged that the service would “spare no effort in cleansing our beloved land” of the group. He extended condolences to Zughair’s family and colleagues.

Following the clash, the command said, F-16s resumed operations at 10:45 a.m. Sunday, striking the remaining ISIS hideouts and shelters in the same area along the boundary between federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The strikes drew on intelligence from the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and were coordinated with the Counter-Terrorism Service and the Kurdistan Region’s Commando Forces, it said. The military said it would report the results and any ISIS losses once search and damage-assessment operations were complete.

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.