Press TV - At least seven people have lost their lives when remnants of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group launched an attack against a residential area in Iraq’s oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language Baghdad Post news website that the extremists attacked the village of Albu Shaher on Monday, carrying out the act of terror.

The source added that the Takfiris have fled the village, and a counter-terrorism operation is underway to capture the perpetrators.

Separately, twelve Muslim worshippers sustained gunshot wounds when Daesh militants stormed a mosque in Hekna village, which is near al-Shirqat town and about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Mosul, last night and opened fire indiscriminately.

Eight Daesh terrorists captured west of Mosul

Meanwhile, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan announced in a statement on Monday that eight Daesh militants had been arrested during a clean-up operation west of Mosul.

The statement noted that one of the militants “was working in the terror group’s so-called Security Department, while the others were working in the Soldiers Department. They were arrested in the al-Islah al-Zera'ie district.”

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] Members of the Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) security forces stand guard with Kalashnikov assault rifles outside the local government headquarters in the southern city of Basra on September 2, 2018. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, pledged on June 30 to hunt down Daesh terrorists across Iraq after a series of attacks and abductions carried out by the terrorist group.
“We will chase the remaining cells of terrorism in their hideouts and we will kill them, we will chase them everywhere, in the mountains and the desert,” Abadi said.
Abadi declared the end of military operations against Daesh in the Arab country on December 9, 2017.

On July 10 that year, the Iraqi prime minister had formally declared victory over Daesh in Mosul, which served as the terrorists’ main urban stronghold in the conflict-ridden Arab country.

In the run-up to Mosul's liberation, Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters had made sweeping gains against Daesh.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January 2017 after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19 last year.

Daesh began a terror campaign in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks.