ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi security forces have arrested a suspected leader in the Islamic State (ISIS) during a Kirkuk operation that left one police officer dead, the country’s Security Media Cell announced on Tuesday.

A clash broke out in Kirkuk’s Hawija district, a former ISIS stronghold, late Monday, with ISIS militants targeting security personnel in the area and leaving one police officer dead and two others injured. 

Iraqi security forces promptly launched a search operation to locate the perpetrators, “resulting in the arrest of one of the leaders of the ISIS terrorist gangs,” Marwan al-Ani, head of the Security Media Cell in Kirkuk, told state media. 

He also denied reports that a curfew had been imposed in Hawija, saying “the security situation in the district is stable and secure.” 

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

In late September, following a clash with ISIS remnants, Iraqi counterterrorism forces falsely identified a Kurdish youth as a suspected ISIS member. The operation also led to the death of another bystander, another Kurdish teenager.

The incident sparked uproar among the Kurdish public and political officials, demanding justice for the teenagers and their families.

A security source told The New Region on Sunday that a high-ranking Iraqi official in Kirkuk was removed from his position after two Kurdish civilians were killed in a counterterrorism operation in the province days earlier.

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.