ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi security forces killed two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members and captured another during a clash in Kirkuk province, which also killed a civilian and injured two security personnel, an official said Sunday.

“The movements of three terrorists were tracked in the Altun Kupri [Pirde] area of ​​Kirkuk. Two were killed, and the third was captured. During the operation, two heroes from the Counter-Terrorism Service [CTS] were wounded, and a civilian was killed,” Saad Maan, head of Iraq's Security Media Cell, said in a statement received by The New Region.

Iraq’s CTS said it killed two ISIS members wearing suicide belts.

ISIS remnants have entrenched themselves in Kirkuk’s rural areas for years, resulting in frequent airstrikes from the Iraqi army and counterterrorism forces.

The extremist group took control of swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014, declaring its so-called caliphate with the Iraqi city of Mosul as its capital. They were territorially defeated with assistance from the US-led coalition forces in Iraq in 2017.

Earlier on Sunday, the Security Media Cell announced another operation in Kirkuk, a day after security forces launched two mortar attacks on two suspected ISIS members.

A civilian woman close to the site was injured and later succumbed to her wounds.

In a similar operation earlier in August, Iraq’s counterterrorism forces targeted a suspected ISIS hideout south of Kirkuk, killing two members of the militant group.

In July, a member of the CTS was killed during clashes with ISIS remnants in the province, following a series of security operations targeting the group.

Despite their territorial defeat, ISIS militants have continued to pose a security threat in Iraq through sporadic hit-and-run operations and attacks on remote areas. Iraqi forces, in cooperation with Kurdish forces, have intensified their efforts to eliminate these remnants.