Kirkuk operations kill 40+ ISIS operatives in 2025

Shafaq News– Kirkuk

Iraqi security forces eliminated more than 40 ISIS militants during a series of counterterrorism operations across Kirkuk province last year, a senior military official reported on Tuesday.

Kirkuk Operations Commander Lt. Gen. Saleh Harz told Shafaq News that 43 militants, including senior field commanders, were killed as forces dismantled ISIS positions in rugged terrain. The operations, he clarified, focused on Wadi Zaghitoun in southwestern Kirkuk, Al-Shay Valley (Wadi Al-Shay) on the western outskirts, and the Abu Khanajer area northwest of the province, as well as border zones linking Kirkuk with Saladin and Nineveh.

Harz described the locations as long-standing shelters and movement corridors for ISIS elements, noting that security units penetrated deep into mountainous valleys, fully clearing the areas, and destroying key hideouts.

Although ISIS lost territorial control in Iraq in 2017, it continues to operate through small cells, particularly in the so-called Triangle of Death spanning Kirkuk, Saladin, and Diyala, relying on assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion to undermine security.

Nationwide, the Counter Terrorism Service (ICTS) reported carrying out 320 counterterrorism operations in 2025, resulting in 138 arrests on terrorism charges, the killing of 20 militants during armed confrontations, and the dismantling of 363 terrorist sites.

Read more: On ISIS defeat anniversary, Iraq confronts a reawakening insurgency