Capt. Habib al-Shemari said a number of ISIL militants had sneaked into Sarha town in northern Diyala late Sunday after fleeing Hawija district in southwestern Kirkuk. 

“Security forces launched a swoop in the area, killing six militants and are hunting down others,” he said.

After overrunning vast territories in both Iraq and Syria in 2014, ISIL has recently suffered a string of major defeats at the hands of the Iraqi army and a U.S.-led coalition. 

In August, the terrorist group lost Tal Afar in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province. And one month earlier, the city of Mosul -- once the capital of ISIL’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” -- fell to the Iraqi army following a nine-month campaign.