Iraqi security forces have eliminated multiple Islamic State (ISIS) operatives in a pair of targeted airstrikes in the past week, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said, according to the Xinhua news agency.
According to the JOC, the first strike was carried out Tuesday by Iraqi F-16 fighter jets, targeting a key ISIS hideout in the Salahuddin province. The location was destroyed, and the terrorists present were killed, based on intelligence information provided to security forces.
A second operation took place Thursday, striking another ISIS stronghold in northern Kirkuk province. Authorities stated that further details regarding the outcome of the strike would be released at a later time.
In a separate operation, Iraqi forces arrested Salman Khudair Suleiman Dawood, a high-value target listed among the country’s most wanted terrorists. Dawood was previously affiliated with Al-Qaeda before joining Islamic State.
ISIS overran large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in land it controlled.
Several military offensives, including those backed by the US-led international coalition, have since seen ISIS lose most areas it once controlled, including the loss of their de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.
However, ISIS sleeper cells remain in the area continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
In August of 2023, UN experts said that ISIS still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former stronghold in Syria and Iraq and its fighters pose the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan.