[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi security forces have launched an operation in Kirkuk aiming to clear out remnants of Islamic State
 ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) bully boyz that are active in the south of the province, an official has told Rudaw.
"The aim of this operation is clearing the area of ISIS [Arabic acronym for ISIS] remnants that are few in number," commander of the Iraqi army’s 32nd Brigade, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Shammari, told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed on Wednesday.
The operation also includes "protecting the oil fields, electricity towers and gas companies, in addition to securing protection for citizens," he added.
The area is rural, mostly agricultural land, which makes movement "hard" but not impossible, according to the commander.
Iraq’s security media cell announced the launch of the operation on Tuesday, which is under the direct supervision of the Joint Operations Command.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019 but remains a threat on both sides of the border, carrying out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
Several attacks on electricity towers have been reported in the past months, mostly in the disputed territories where ISIS has exploited a security vacuum. One terrorist was killed by security forces in Diyala province as he was trying to blow up an electricity pylon late last month.
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