SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An Islamic State (ISIS) leader was killed in Kirkuk province on Friday (October 16), an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Yehia Rasool, spokesman for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said in a tweet that Iraqi counter-terrorism forces conducted an airdrop operation against the ISIS militants in south of Kirkuk on Friday.
An ISIS leader wearing an explosive belt was killed during the operation, Rasool tweeted.
Iraqi forces have stepped up efforts to detain ISIS militants in the provinces of Kirkuk, Saladin, Anbar and Baghdad. On October 10, Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrested an ISIS leader during an airdrop operation in Wadi Zeighitoon area in southwest of Kirkuk.
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”.
