Based on intelligence reports, Iraqi warplanes carried out an airstrike at 6:30 a.m. local time (0330 GMT) in the rugged area of Wadi al-Shay, southwest of Kirkuk, leaving three ISIL militants killed, according to a statement from the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

Meanwhile, the warplanes carried out another airstrike on the nearby caves and tunnels used by the militants, the statement said.

The statement gave no immediate details about the result of the second airstrike but said more information would be released later, Xinhua reported.

ISIL, which attacked Iraq on June 7, 2014, and managed to capture about 45% of the country's territory for a short period of time, was defeated in November 2017; However, since then, the remanent members of the terrorist group are present and operating in Iraq and Syria and carry out terrorist attacks from time to time.

Iraqi security forces keep searching, clearing, and chasing ISIL across the country to make sure that ISIL and its fugitive elements do not re-emerge.