Iraqi counter-terrorism officer killed in Kirkuk ISIS clashes

Shafaq News- Baghdad

An officer in Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) was killed in armed clashes with ISIS militants in the northern province of Kirkuk, the head of the service, Karim al-Tamimi, announced Sunday.

First Lieutenant Hassan Khudair Zaghir died during a wide-scale operation against ISIS that CTS units have conducted since Saturday, backed by Iraqi warplanes, in the Altun Kupri area north of Kirkuk, along the boundary with Erbil province.

Earlier, a security source told Shafaq News that three airstrikes hit suspected ISIS hideouts on the outskirts of Altun Kupri, and CTS forces killed an ISIS member in a separate raid nearby the same day.

ISIS lost its last territorial holdings in Iraq in 2017 but continues to operate as an insurgent network in rural and desert areas of Kirkuk, Diyala, Saladin, and al-Anbar, relying on hit-and-run attacks. Kirkuk is an oil-rich province claimed by both the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and its contested security status has long left gaps that the group exploits.