A police officer was killed and a bunch of IEDs seized following a three-day offensive by Iraqi forces in the outskirts of Kirkuk aiming at eradication of the remnants of the extremist group of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS.
The joint operation launched May 19 by Iraqi army, federal police, rapid response troops and Shiite militants of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF covered south and southwest of Kirkuk and came to end on May 21.
Few days following the operation, a captain of federal police was killed by an IED in the village of Sek Darb of Daquq district, south of Kirkuk.
"The officer was killed in a search and inspection campaign in the valley of Rokhana. The security media cell in a statement confirmed the incident.
Last week, a number of suspects were arrested per terror law in different areas of Kirkuk. The pro-Shiite paramilitary of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF said in a statement on May 26th it has defused an IED in Badir neighborhood o f Kirkuk.
The military operations follow a series of attacks by the extremist militants in the towns of Daquq, Hawija and Pirdy of Kirkuk in April and May.
Early May, three Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) were killed and two were injured in an attack by ISIS militants in the sub-district of Altun Kopri (The Golden Bridge), northwest of Kirkuk. In Daquq, Daesh targeted two oil wells that takes a month to restore, officials said.
End of April, a suicide bomber was killed in Kirkuk trying to enter national security service, another arrested. The hunt for the three others is ongoing, a commander of National security in Kirkuk told KirkukNow.
Following the military defeat of ISIS, discord over security arrangements, public services, and the lack of a unified administration in the disputed territories, have plagued victims and survivors.
The northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq's second largest oil reserves, is ethnically a mixed province for 1.2 million Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
Kurds, whom controlled Kirkuk up to October 2017 when the so-called Islamic State ISIS was ousted by Iraqi forces, wanted Kirkuk, 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, to become part of the Kurdistan region through a referendum for independence, which has been opposed by the Arab and Turkmen populations.
Kirkuk, May 19, 2021- AN operation to oust the remnants of Daesh south and southwest of Kirkuk. Photo courtesy of KirkukNow.
The military commanders believe sweeping should be followed by land control and permanent deployment of troops to restore long-term stability.
A commander of PMF anonymously told KirkukNow that security and stability requires continuous operations. "The 3-day operation played a role in decreasing and pushing away threats."
The operations could not eliminate the threats by the sleep cells of IS.
A security source in Duz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk, said two Iraqi soldiers were hit when an IED hit an Iraqi army convoy on May 27th between the villages of Bir Ahmed and Zarga.
The turbulent security coincides with the putting in office military joint operation commands by the Iraqi and the regional government in Kirkuk and other disputed territories for exchange of intelligence information about moves by IS. The move was denounced by Arabs and Turkmen of Kirkuk.
The disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad 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.
Currently, Iraqi army, local and federal police, Brigade 61 of Special Forces along with PMF, are under Kirkuk joint operations’ command, an umbrella for security forces running the security of Kirkuk.
