SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi forces backed by the country’s warplanes killed 87 members of Islamic State (ISIS) militants during an anti-ISIS operation last month, according to a military spokesman.
Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Forces launched an operation against ISIS militants, dubbed ‘Ready Lion’, in Hamrin mountain range in March, said Yehia Rasool, spokesman for commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces.
The Iraqi forces backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led Coalition warplanes destroyed 120 caves and hideouts and killed 27 militants during the operation, Rasool added.
Iraqi warplanes ISIS positions range after a number of the militants fled from Hamrin mountain toward Qarachogh mountain, southwest of Erbil.
The strikes killed 60 militants, Rasool said.
The counter-terrorism forces continue to “completely eliminate the remnants of ISIS terrorist gangs,” he said.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December 2017 but the militants have regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range which extends into the northern provinces – an area described by officials as a “triangle of death”.
