ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A landmine explosion, believed to be remains of the Islamic State (ISIS), on Sunday killed at least three members of a joint Iraqi army-Peshmerga force and wounded several others in Salahaddin province’s Tuz Khurmatu district, an official confirmed to the New Region.
The landmine set off near the village of Palkana, Tuz Khurmatu. Three members of the force were killed and two others were wounded, according to the official.
The Iraqi defense ministry extended condolences to the families of the victims, confirming that three members of the force were killed in the explosion.
Another security source told The New Region that at least five people were wounded, including two "in critical condition."
Units of the Eastern Salahaddin Operation Command arrived at the scene shortly, cordoning off the explosion site and launched an investigation into the incident, the source detailed.
The victims were members of Brigade 20. This joint force has over 3,700 members and was established by Iraq’s defense ministry and the Peshmerga ministry of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It has been stationed in the security vacuum between Erbil and Baghdad.
The force is primarily tasked with foiling ISIS plots, draining their resources, and crippling their abilities by using remote areas to regroup and launch attacks on either side.
Home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, Tuz Khurmatu is located in Salahaddin province. It is part of the disputed regions between the central government and the KRG.
Security gaps were created in the wake of the Kurdistan Region’s 2017 independence referendum which also was held in the disputed regions. Soon after it was held, Iran-backed Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and the Iraqi army pushed Kurdish Peshmerga forces out of the area, paving the way for ISIS militants to regroup and build hideouts in the area.
The incident came hours after the Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced they killed four ISIS militants in airstrikes on the group’s hideouts in a remote region southwest of Kirkuk province.
Seven years into the territorial defeat of ISIS, the group remains a security threat in Iraq through its remnants.
ISIS controlled large swathes of territory in parts of Iraq and Syria following their rise in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019.
Though they no longer control any territory, they are active in their hit-and-run operations, posing danger to security around the areas they once controlled.
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