Airstrikes target suspected militants and tunnel in Kirkuk’s Zghaitun Valley

KIRKUK — Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out two airstrikes Monday in Kirkuk’s Zghaitun Valley, targeting three suspected terror militants and destroying a tunnel used by militants, according to a statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

In a statement, the Security Media Cell affiliated with the commander-in-chief’s office said, “Under close field supervision and high-level intelligence coordination, our armed forces continue to pursue the remnants of terrorism and strike their hideouts wherever they are found.”

The statement said the operation followed intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate in coordination with the Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillance Center at the commander-in-chief’s office.

“Following the information, at 12:21 p.m., our air force carried out a direct and precisely targeted strike using F-16 aircraft against the identified targets,” it added. The statement said a tunnel used by militants was subsequently identified. “In the same area, a tunnel belonging to the terrorists was detected, and at 1:30 p.m., it was targeted and completely destroyed,” the statement said.

The statement did not provide information on casualties resulting from the strikes.

The Islamic State group carried out 21 documented attacks in Iraq between July 1 and Oct. 14, more than half of them in Kirkuk governorate, according to an investigation by the fact-checking platform Sahih Iraq, which also found that much of the engagement with several pro-ISIS accounts on X came from Saudi Arabia.

Attacks rose from two in July to four in August and 10 in September, with five more in the first two weeks of October, the report said. Kirkuk accounted for 12 of the 21, or 57%, including six of September’s 10 and four of October’s five. An Iraqi Army brigadier general and a warrant officer were killed in Kirkuk on Oct. 14 by an explosive device left at a bombed ISIS hideout, and two soldiers were killed on Oct. 4 by an ISIS device north of the Anbar town of Rawa. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, as commander-in-chief, ordered the armed forces to their highest level of combat readiness on Oct. 13.

ISIS lost territorial control in Iraq in 2017, but suspected members remain active in parts of the country, particularly in rural and remote areas.