Iraqi security forces targeted an Islamic State (ISIS) hideout in a precision airstrike early Saturday, eliminating all terrorists present, according to a statement from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) quoted by the Xinhua news agency.
The operation, conducted at 2:00 a.m. local time, followed days of surveillance and intelligence gathering. The JOC confirmed that the hideout, located in eastern Salahuddin province, was completely destroyed.
A security source cited by Xinhua reported that at least three ISIS terrorists were killed in the strike, including a senior commander.
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.
Iraq last week eliminated multiple ISIS terrorists in a pair of targeted airstrikes in the same area.