Iraqi police find two tunnels for Islamic State in Kirkuk’s Hawija
One of the tunnels that was used by the Islamic State in Mosul.
Kirkuk (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi police forces found on Wednesday two tunnels for Islamic State and detonated 13 explosive charges during security campaigns in Hawija district in oil-rich Kirkuk.
Federal Police Chief Raed Shawkat Gawdat said in a statement that three terrorists were also arrested in two villages in Kirkuk, while three others fled the scene before the police catch them.
Police forces also found a roadside bomb placed near a Kirkuk hospital, Iraqi website Alghad Press quoted Gawdat as saying.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over five million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
Despite the group’s crushing defeat at its main havens across Iraq last December, Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks against troops with security reports warning that the militant group still poses a threat against stability in the country.