Iraqi Air Force Kills 3 ISIS Militants in Kirkuk Province Airstrikes

The Iraqi Air Force conducted coordinated airstrikes on ISIS hideouts in northern Kirkuk Province on May 7, 2026, killing three militants according to Iraq's Joint Operations Command Security Media Cell. The strikes targeted cave and tunnel network positions in the province's mountainous terrain, which ISIS has used as redoubts for its post-caliphate insurgency. The operations reflected the continuation of Iraqi counterterrorism activity against the ISIS insurgency even as broader regional military attention was consumed by the US-Iran conflict. Kirkuk, a contested province on the KRG-federal boundary, has been one of ISIS's most active insurgency zones alongside Anbar, Diyala, and Salah al-Din provinces.