The extremist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant ISIL launched four attacks Friday targeting Iraqi security forces in the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil, mounting the attacks in the last ten days into 11, killing nine people, including four civilians.
November 5th attacks targeted the Kurdish Peshmerga (fighter) forces and the Iraqi army from four directions, in which an Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded.
The first attack was launched just before 9 pm targeting a point for the Iraqi army in Khanaqin district of Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. Following that, the headquarter of the Brigade Eight of Commando forces was targeted within the borders of Daquq district, south of Kirkuk governorate, was bombed by mortars. The two attacks did not result in any casualties.
However, an Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an attack by ISIS militants targeting Sayed Gharib area in southern Salah al-Din governorate following armed confrontations between the two sides, security sources told KirkukNow.
On the same night, the Ministry of Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG issued a statement stressing that "the Peshmerga forces thwarted an attack by ISIS militants in the area between the districts of Kifri and Tuz (Duz) Khurmatu, no casualties reported."
ISIS militants during the past ten days launched 11 attacks
In total, ISIS militants during the past ten days launched 11 attacks against Iraqi security forces ISF and civilians in the disputed territories, mainly in Kirkuk, killing nine people, four of them were civilians.
ISIS militants have managed to carry out three attacks in Kirkuk Northern Province on Wednesday yet they have failed to cause any casualties, a recession in the deadly attacks ISIS leading lately.
On October 30, ISIS militants took six people working in the coal industry in the village of Al-Hawaij in the Al-Abbasi district, south of Kirkuk, as hostage. Four of them were killed and the other two were injured.
Sleeper cells and resistant pockets of ISIS militants are regrouping in the rural areas of the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil. They are targeting Iraqi forces and civilians in the suburbs of Diyla, Kirkuk Ninawa, Salahaddin and Erbil.
The persistence of ISIS threats comes despite the fact that the former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced in late 2017, the complete elimination of ISIS in Iraq, after nearly three years of military confrontations.
Statistics of the KRG Ministry of Peshmerga MOP indicated that ISIS launched 2,412 terrorist attacks in Iraq from the beginning of 2018 until the end of last October.
The Secretary-General of the MOP Lieutenant-General Jabar Yawar, told Voice of America VOA Kurdish service on November 4th "In the past, the organization was fighting on the fronts...but now it is using new tactics: suicide attacks or plant mines, sometimes they target individuals with sniper weapons, set up ambushes on the roads or kidnap citizens and release them in exchange for sums of money."
Back in 2014, ISIS took over almost one third of Iraqi territories. End of 2017, the Iraqi government declared victory and defeat of IS yet a report by the United Nations UN published early this year estimated thousands of Daesh fighters remain active across Iraq and Syria.
Baghdad and Erbil have agreed to deploy two joint brigades in areas where the security vacuum is and Daesh is using as hideouts and lead fatal attacks.
"There is a real need to deploy four not two joint brigades in the disputed territories in order to limit Daesh maneuvers since it is a large area from Khanaqin to Kirkuk & from Makhmour to Ninewa plains," KRG deputy chief of staff General Qaraman Kamal told PUK media Monday.
