Iraqi army says terrorists killed in airstrikes on hideouts in northern provinces

By Laith Al-jnaidi and Rania Abu Shamala

BAGHDAD/ISTANBUL (AA)— The Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command announced on Saturday that several terrorists were killed in airstrikes on their hideouts in Salah Al-Din and Kirkuk provinces in northern Iraq, the state-run news agency INA reported.

The Iraqi army “carried out two airstrikes, based on accurate intelligence information from the Military Intelligence Directorate, in coordination with the Targeting Cell of the Joint Ops Command,” the Security Media Cell said in a statement, quoting the command.

The first strike “came after several days of intelligence surveillance, during which the heroic Air Falcons destroyed, on August 12, a major terrorist hideout in Wadi Al-Shai, east of the Salah Al-Din Operations Sector, using F-16 aircraft, reducing the hideout to rubble. The operation resulted in the killing of a group of terrorists inside,” added the statement.

The second attack occurred on Aug. 14, “targeting another terrorist hideout within the Kirkuk Ops Sector,” it said.

In 2017, Iraq declared victory over ISIS (Daesh) by reclaiming all territories controlled by the terrorist group since the summer of 2014, which was estimated to be roughly one-third of the country's territory.

The group, however, still maintains sleeper cells in large areas of Iraq and conducts sporadic attacks.