Iraqi fighter aircraft carried out three tactical airstrikes targeting Islamic State (ISIS) safe houses in northern Iraq on Sunday, unfolding just hours after a domestic security officer was killed during a fierce firefight in the same sector, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The Security Media Cell, operating under the directive of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, published a bulletin confirming that the air operations commenced at 10:45 a.m. local time. The primary targets were located near the Dibis district, situated inside the northern province of Kirkuk.
The decision to deploy aerial forces was finalized immediately after a fatal close-quarters firefight erupted in the region. The ground engagement resulted in the deaths of an ISIS terrorist and a first lieutenant attached to the national counter-terrorism forces.
Providing further details on the casualties, Major Abbas al-Obaidi from the Kirkuk Operations Command stated that the localized combat also left two regular army soldiers wounded.
Military administrators noted that the quick-response operation relied heavily on a unified intelligence framework. According to disclosures from the Security Media Cell, the combined ground raids and subsequent precision airstrikes were executed using real-time coordinates supplied by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service.
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 and continue to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
In addition to the elimination of ISIS terrorists, Iraqi authorities regularly report the arrest of suspected ISIS members as part of ongoing counter‑terrorism operations.