Airstrikes destroy eight Islamic State hideouts in Kirkuk

KIRKUK — Iraqi aircraft destroyed eight Islamic State hideouts in Kirkuk governorate on Monday, the fourth operation against the group in the area in about five weeks, the Security Media Cell said.

The Military Intelligence Directorate had “precise and confirmed intelligence” that Islamic State members were present in the areas struck, according to the statement. The air force coordinated with the targeting cell at the office of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, carrying out reconnaissance before the strikes. No casualty figures were given and no further details released.

Iraqi forces have struck the same area repeatedly. On July 20 they carried out an airborne raid and airstrikes on six suspected hideouts in Wadi Zghaitun. That followed the killing of a Counter-Terrorism Service officer in a clash with militants while inspecting sites hit in earlier raids north of Kirkuk, after which F-16s carried out three more strikes with federal forces and the Kurdistan Region’s Commando Forces. Forces have also repeatedly targeted caves, tunnels and shelters in the nearby Hamrin Mountains, where seven militants were reported killed and more than 20 hideouts and tunnels destroyed at the end of 2024.

The Islamic State group seized large areas of northern and western Iraq in 2014 before Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, declared its territorial defeat in 2017. It has since operated through small cells in rural, mountainous and desert areas.