Insurgency persists as U.S.-led coalition leaves Iraq

KIRKUK - Iraq is continuing to battle a persistent insurgency waged by remnants of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, even as Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi marked "the complete and final withdrawal" of the U.S.-led counter-IS coalition on Sept. 30 and declared "victory over one of the darkest pages of extremism and brutality in history."

Dozens of incident reports from Iraqi security officials gathered by Iraq Oil Report over the past month suggest insurgent cells are still active across a swath of territory that IS once controlled, stretching from the western deserts of Anbar province across Kirkuk and Salahaddin to Diyala.