Deadly Twin Attack Rocks Kirkuk Region
A deadly twin attack struck the al-Rashad area, south of Kirkuk city, just after midnight on Sunday. The brutal assault began with a fierce two-hour firefight between armed attackers and police officers, leaving three cops dead, according to Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed reporting from Baghdad.
Ambush Kills Reinforcements, Wounding More
As reinforcements rushed to the scene, they were ambushed by roadside explosives, killing additional officers. Three more police were wounded, and one remains missing following the chaos.
ISIL Suspected in Bloody Assaults
No group has yet claimed responsibility, but security sources point the finger at ISIL, who remain active in the area. Elsewhere, gunmen attacked an army checkpoint southeast of Mosul on Sunday, killing at least three soldiers and wounding one.
“The attacks are part of ongoing asymmetric warfare by ISIL sleeper cells, despite their official defeat in 2017,” a security source revealed.
ISIL’s Ongoing Threat Despite Defeat
ISIL once swept across huge parts of Iraq in a lightning offensive back in 2014, only to be pushed back by a US-led coalition. The Iraqi government declared victory over the terror group in late 2017, but sleeper cells continue to poison the north with regular deadly attacks on police and soldiers.
One of the deadliest attacks this year was a July 19 bombing at al-Woheilat Market in Sadr City, killing 30. International coalition forces still have around 3,500 troops in Iraq—with 2,500 American—but Washington plans to slim down its presence next year, focusing only on training Iraqi forces amid rising attacks by Iran-backed groups on U.S. facilities.
