ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least four ISIS militants were killed and 30 civilians freed from the group in two operations in Mosul and Salahadin provinces, the Iraqi army said.
The army said it carried out raids against the militants based on an intelligence tip on their location.
"A joint force of Nineveh police and the Iraqi army carried out a security operation based on intelligence information indicating that there were armed men hiding in tunnels in the plains of southwest Mosul,” Alaa Othman an Iraqi army official said in a press conference in Mosul on Wednesday.
Othman explained that the army had sealed off the area to prevent any escape and subsequently killed all four militants who wore explosive belts.
The army did not suffer casualties, he said.
In a similar operation in Salahaddin province the military was able to free “30 civilians who had been held by the group in Makhoul Mountain in the outskirts of Salahadin province.”
Iraqi and Kurdish military leaders warn that ISIS is making a stealthy comeback in parts of the country and carries out daily attacks against the Iraqi army, particularly in Nineveh and Diyala.