Iraqi police destroy three Islamic State hotbeds in Diyala
One of the tunnels that was used by the Islamic State in Mosul.
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Interior Ministry has announced that three hotbeds of the Islamic State terrorist group were destroyed during a security operation in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
“Federal police forces, acting on intelligence information, destroyed three Islamic State hideouts in Valley Shaybah in Kirkuk province,” Maj. Gen. Saad Maan, the ministry spokesman, said in a press statement.
“The hideouts contained 15 explosive charges, two magazines and foodstuffs,” the statement read.
Kirkuk officials previously urged reinforcing military troops in the south and west of the province, as the region still has Islamic State members who escaped during liberation of Hawija to remote areas.
In October 2017, former prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared that Iraqi troops recaptured Hawija, a main town held by Islamic State in the country. Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State occupied in 2014.