BAQUBA, Iraq - Months after Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group, its fighters are making a comeback with a scattergun campaign of kidnap and killing.

With its dream of a caliphate in the Middle East now dead, the IS group has switched to hit-and-run attacks aimed at undermining the government in Baghdad, military, intelligence and government officials said.

The IS group was reinventing itself months before Baghdad announced in December that it had defeated the group, according to intelligence officials who said it would adopt guerrilla tactics when it could no longer hold territory.

Iraq has now seen an increase in kidnappings and killings, mainly in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahuddin, since it held an election in May, indicating the government will come under renewed pressure from a group that once occupied a third of the country during a three-year reign of terror.

Last month saw 83 cases of kidnap, murder or both in the three provinces. Most occurred on a highway connecting Baghdad to Kirkuk.

In May, the number of such incidents in that area was 30, while in March it was seven, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on the IS group who advises the Iraqi government.

"The situation is confusing, and the reason is the chaos within the security forces. There isn't one command leading security in the province. This strengthens Daesh," said Salahuddin Provincial Council Chairman Ahmed al-Kareem, using the Arabic name for the IS group.

Hit and run

That kind of disarray among the security forces has allowed the IS group to stage a comeback, according to military, police, intelligence, and local elected officials.

The terrorists have regrouped in the Hemrin mountain range in the northeast, which extends from Diyala on the border, crossing northern Salahuddin and southern Kirkuk, and overlooks Iraq's main highway. Officials describe the area as a "triangle of death".

Military and intelligence officials gave varying estimates of how many IS extremists remain active in Iraq.

Hashimi puts the number at more than 1,000, with around 500 in desert areas and the rest in the mountains.

Al-Qaida terrorists once held sway over most of Iraq's Sunni areas until it was beaten by the United States and Iraqi troops and their tribal allies during the "surge" campaign of 2006-07.

Its remnants hid in the desert between Syria and Iraq and later turned into the IS. Some officials fear an even more radical group could emerge if there are gaps in security.

Each IS cell contains between three and five fighters, said Lieutenant General Muzher al-Azawi, Diyala operations commander. He said there were no more than 75 fighters in the province.

"They hide in the mountains, making it hard to find them. They plant explosives, use hit-and-run tactics, and snipers. They set up fake checkpoints for kidnappings," he said.

Reuters