SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi defense minister Juma Inad arrived in Kirkuk on Wednesday to follow up security in the province, Esta Media Network’s reporter said.
Reporter Aso Ahmed in Kirkuk said the minister would meet hold talks with officials and security officers in the province.
He would follow up the security situation in Kirkuk and investigate the recent Islamic State (ISIS) attacks against the Iraqi forces.
Recently, ISIS remnants have increased attacks against the security forces and civilians in Kirkuk province.
On Sunday, thirteen members of the Iraqi federal police were killed in two separate ISIS attacks in southwest of Kirkuk.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi chaired an “emergency meeting” of the national security council late on Sunday to discuss the security situation in Kirkuk.
Kadhimi directed the security forces to launch “qualitative and proactive operation against ISIS militants in Kirkuk.
On Tuesday, at least four ISIS militants were killed during an operation dubbed “Revenge of the Martyrs of the Federal Police” in northwest of Kirkuk.
In 2017 Baghdad announced victory over the militant group, and attacks in Iraqi cities have since become much rarer, although troops continue to fight ISIS sleeper cells in mountainous and desert areas.
The militants still mount deadly operations, mostly at night and in remote areas.
