A policeman was killed, two injured and two oil wells exploded west of Kirkuk in an attack by the Islamic State IS fighters, security and oil company sources told KirkukNow
IS militants riding motorbikes on Tuesday evening assaulted oil guard units in the village of Aziziya of Bay Hassan Oil field in the district of Dubiz, or Dibis, 35 km west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
“A policeman was killed and two others were injured,” an informed source of Oil guard units told KirkukNow. “The security forces stood for Daesh militants for hours later they fled,” he added.
“Oil wells number 177 and 183 were bombed and special teams of north oil company controlled the first oil well yet the second is still burning,” a source from Bay Hassan oil field said.
Since the withdrawal of Kurdish forces end of 2017 from Kirkuk, the federal government has controlled Kirkuk oil fields which are Havana, Bai Hassan, Khabaza, Jambor and Qubai Baba managed by state-run North Oil Company.
IS militants who are regrouping in the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad and lately escalated launching attacks against Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
Last week, a commander of National security in Kirkuk told KirkukNow that Daesh militants were planning to attack security services and agencies in Kirkuk by five suicide bombers. One of them killed on April 29th while trying to enter Kirkuk office of National security, another arrested and the hunt for the three others are ongoing.
Two days later, three Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) were killed and another two were injured in an attack by the extremist militants in the sub-district of Altun Kopri (Pirdy), north west of Kirkuk.
A security official told KirkukNow that Daesh fighters infiltrate into the sub-district of Riyadh, south of Kirkuk, confronted by pro-Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces PMF.
The disputed territories extend from Khanaqin in the east on the border with Iran to the oil rich city of Kirkuk heading to the west of Mosul in Shingal, home to Ezidi ethno-religious minority, on the border with Syria.
Kirkuk, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province of Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, and Turkmen. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the Erbil.
Currently, Kirkuk is under control of Baghdad. Kirkuk Operations command is an umbrella for local and federal police, PMF known as Hashid aal-Sha’abi and Iraqi army.
