An Iraqi soldier and a policeman were injured by the militants of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS) who carried out three armed attacks against the Iraqi security forces in three different areas of Kirkuk and Salah al-Din provinces.

The first attack took place around 7:00 pm on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, when militants stormed the forces of the 14th Division of the Iraqi army deployed in Al-Zarga village of Tuz Khurmatu district.

A security source told (KirkukNow) that ISIS snipers attacked the division, as a result of which a soldier was seriously wounded.

At about 10pm of Wednesday, a company belonging to the 18th brigade of the Federal Police in the village of Zghitoun in Al-Rashad district southwest of Kirkuk was attacked and a policeman was injured.

"After that attack, the convoy of the commander of the Fifth Division in the Federal Police was targeted within the borders of Daquq. the injury of some vehicles with gunshots," a security source anonymously told KirkukNow.

TVideo: convoy of commander of 5th Division of Federal Police targeted by IS militants. Federal Police

Sleeper cells and resistant pockets of ISIS militants are regrouping in the rural areas of the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil where neither Iraqi security forces of the those of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region IKR are deployed.

They are posing a high threat by different tactics such as hit-and-run attacks, kidnappings, snipers, IED and roadside bombs targeting the Iraqi forces and civilians.

The Iraqi security forces launch regular campaigns to sweep remote areas for ISIS hideouts yet it has filed to uproot the extremist armed group.

These attacks come a week after the end of the "Iron Hammer" operation launched by the Iraqi Security Forces ISF in seven villages of Lake Rokhana and Al-Zarga areas within the borders of Kirkuk and Salah al-Din where a large tunnel for "ISIS militants" was found, in addition to seizing a quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosive materials.

The three attacks came a day after an attack by gunmen targeted the village of Mansour in the Haftgar area of ​​Daquq district, which was confronted by the residents of the village and the security forces. The attack resulted in the injury of a civilian.

ISIL has staged a series of attacks lately targeting civilians and security forces.

On April 19, three militants were killed and nine others were wounded in a village of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad district attacked by ISIS militants with sniper and improvised explosive devices IED, local officials said.

Video: ISIS militants launch an attack on Mansour village in Daquq district

ISIL took large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Following a series of bloody offensives against it, the armed group lost its territorial control in Iraq and was effectively defeated in 2017, the Iraqi government declared.

However, having changed its strategies, ISI still poses a threat in several provinces in Iraq, particularly the disputed territories which ranges from Khanaqin northeast of Baghdad on the border with Iran across the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk up to Shingal (Sinar) at the west on the borders with Syria.

Meanwhile, the territorial disputes between Baghdad and Ebril, coupled with a lack of coordination between Kurdish forces and their counterparts in Baghdad, have contributed to a security vacuum that has been increasingly exploited by ISIS.