ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syrian state media on Friday reported that alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members participated in a suicide bombing on a security checkpoint in Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor province, killing a police officer.

SANA reported that the attack took place at the Siyasiyeh checkpoint, with a vehicle containing the assailants being engaged by personnel at the checkpoint. The Syrian forces “at the checkpoint killed one of the assailants, but the second one blew himself up.”

“A member of the internal security forces was martyred in the suicide attack," Syrian state media continued.

Despite their territorial defeat, ISIS continues to post a salient security threat in Syria, with operations against the militant group continuing to be carried out by local and international forces.

The US-led anti-jihadist global coalition on Wednesday located and killed alleged prominent Islamic State (ISIS) leader Salah Numan in Idlib’s Atmeh area, Syrian state TV said, citing government sources.

Numan, an Iraqi national, was described by Syrian state media as “one of the most dangerous wanted individuals for his involvement in activating and directing ISIS cells inside Syria.”

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) Deir ez-Zor Military Council on Saturday announced the capture of 12 “wanted individuals and suspects” linked to ISIS in the city of Deir ez-Zor in an operation with the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), while freeing four fighters of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council in the process.

ISIS took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014, announcing its self-proclaimed caliphate with the Iraqi city of Mosul as its capital. They were territorially defeated with assistance from the US-led coalition forces in Iraq by 2017 and in Syria by 2019.