SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi warplanes carried out four airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) positions in Hamrin mountains in Saladin province, Iraq’s military said on Tuesday.
Iraq’s F-16 fighter jets bombed caves where ISIS militants are hiding in the Hamrin mountain range, Iraqi security media cell said in a statement.
“The strikes led to the destruction of the caves and the killing of terrorist elements inside them,” the military added.
Security forces backed by Iraqi warplanes and U.S.-led Coalition forces have intensified military operations against ISIS militants hiding in the Hamrin mountain range.
Iraqi forces including the military, federal police and units of the Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as Hashid al-Shaabi, launched an operation on Sunday to inspect and clear the mountain range surrounding Lake Hamrin and areas in north of Saadia in Diyala province.
The forces killed five ISIS militants and destroyed eight hideouts, two tunnels, six mortar rounds, and three explosive devices during the operation, according to Yehia Rasool, spokesman for commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces.
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”.
Iraqi commanders have warned that the group has been regrouping in northern Iraq and relying on women to secure logistical support for their operatives in the Hamrin mountain range.
The area is caught between the jurisdictions of the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga forces.
Kurdish officials have said the militant group is using a security vacuum between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the disputed areas, claimed by both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
