Video shows airstrikes pounding ISIS caves in Iraq

Iraqi air force in cooperation with US-Coalition airstrikes destroyed a complex of 10 caves where Islamic State fighters were hiding out in the northern mountains of Iraq, the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve said Thursday.

The strikes, carried out in the Hamrin Mountains Wednesday, killed five to 10 militants, the coalition said in a statement.

The initial estimates may be revised later based on a ground search still being conducted by Iraq’s 14th Army Division and security forces, it said.

“Strikes like these help our Iraqi partners maintain relentless pressure on the Daesh scourge, no matter where these terrorists hide,” said Maj. Gen. Eric Hill, commanding general of the coalition’s special operations joint task force, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Though much of the cave complex was “inaccessible” after the strike, Iraqi forces had already discovered ISIS documents, electronic devices, and weapons fragments, the statement said.

The northern Iraqi mountain range has for years been a safe haven for the militants. It’s “one of their last remaining operating areas in Iraq,” where they use “intricate tunnel and cave systems” to smuggle weapons, move senior leaders and plot operations, the coalition statement said.

The militants have continued to carry out insurgent attacks in the region since losing the last of the territory they once claimed in Iraq in late 2017.

Earlier this week, about 60 miles to the northeast of where the cave system was destroyed, an attacker blew himself up outside the Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Directorate in Kirkuk, wounding at least two security personnel in the blast, the Iraqi government has said.

“The presence of Daesh in Iraq continues to diminish, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of Iraqi forces,” Hill said.