The Islamic State is not dead yet in Iraq. Recently there were two incidents. Overall the group has not been doing much this year but they appear to be more serious than 2025.
On Sunday September 27 there were two rare incidents involving the Islamic State. First the Counter Terrorism Service tracked down three IS fighters and got into a gun battle with them. Two had suicide belts on and killed themselves. Earlier the insurgents fired mortars at al-Malha village killing one civilian and injuring others. Both occurred in Kirkuk province. This is a very concerning turn of events as the insurgents have largely been dead in Iraq the last couple years.
2026 has seen a series of Islamic State activity. First in April there was a report that villages northwest of Kirkuk city had been witnessing a series of kidnappings which were blamed upon IS. It was believed that the group was seizing people to sell them for ransom. Kirkuk appears to be a center for the insurgents as it was in the past. That’s because there are gaps between the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the Peshmerga that can be exploited along with mountain ranges which are hard to access.
On July 5 a Kurdish farmer was kidnapped while a Counter Terror officer was killed chasing IS fighters both in Kirkuk. On August 11 an IED hit an army vehicle that injured three soldiers in the disputed areas of Kirkuk. On August 23 the militants attacked a Hashd checkpoint in Tuz Kharmato in northeast Salahaddin. Finally, on September 19 an electricity tower was blown up and then the security forces intercepted a group of IS fighters who were going to carry out an attack which led to shooting. These two incidents happened in Baiji in northern Salahaddin. Both Tuz Kharmato and Baiji neighbor Kirkuk.
Back in 2025 there were 17 incidents involving the Islamic State. Only a few of those were actual attacks however.
Right now it’s too early to tell whether this year is the beginning of something or just more of the same with regards to the insurgency. IS tried to rebuild after its defeat in 2017 and utterly failed. The most important factor was that Sunnis were no longer willing to support the group because it was too costly. During the war the government forces carried out mass Sunni cleansing. There are still towns today that are empty of people as a result. There is an entire district in Babil province where the population was forced out and the area was turned into a Kataib Hezbollah base. One factor in IS’s favor however is that militants might have infiltrated in from Syria after the war ended there. The extent of the Islamic State’s strength in Iraq may not be revealed until months later when more data is available.
SOURCES
Bas News, “Roadside Bomb Hits Iraqi Army, Injuring Three: Ministry,” 8/11/26
Kurdistan 24, “ISIS Attacks PMF Post as Iraq’s Disarmament Debate Intensifies," 8/23/26
- "ISIS Blows Up Power Transmission Tower in Iraq,” 9/19/26
Rudaw, “Farmer goes missing near Kirkuk, ISIS involvement suspected,” 7/5/26
- “Iraqi officer killed in clashes with ISIS in Kirkuk,” 7/5/26
- “ISIS-linked kidnappings target rural communities near Kirkuk,” 4/24/26
Shafaq News, “Security media announces the toll of the Kirkuk clashes and reveals the killing of a civilian (video),” 9/27/26
- “A woman was killed and civilians were injured in an ISIS bombing targeting a village in Kirkuk,” 9/27/26
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