ERBIL — Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi Army on Sunday launched a joint operation against the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) in the Kurdish areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The operation took place in the villages surrounding Kifri, Tuz Khurmatu, and in the province of Kirkuk, including the localities of Palkana, Qorichai, and Balaga, according to Kurdistan 24.
The US-led Global Coalition provided aerial support to the joint Kurdish-Iraqi forces on the ground.
The forces discovered and destroyed several IS hideouts and tunnels filled with military equipment and explosives.
“Great example of Joint Operations with Iraqi and Kurdish Security Forces getting after Daesh together,” said Colonel Dave Williams, the Director of Kurdish Coordination Center of the anti-IS Coalition.
This is the first joint operation between Erbil and Baghdad since they established four Joint Cooperation Centers in Makhmour, Khanaqin, Kirkuk, and Mosul last month.
The sides are working to remove the IS remnants from a vast area where they believe a security vacuum had provided a safe place for IS movements and regrouping.