Islamic State jihadists attack Iraq’s Kirkuk in Mosul diversion

Suicide bombers strike government targets in city as Iraqi troops close in on Mosul

Fighting tooth and nail: A member of the Iraqi government forces takes position on top of a vehicle as smoke rises on the outskirts of Qayyarah, 60 km south of Mosul, on Thursday during an operation against the Islamic State . — Photo: AFP

Jihadist gunmen, some of them wearing suicide vests, attacked the Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, an apparent effort to divert the thousands of troops and militiamen closing in on their Mosul stronghold.

The assault, together with another further north, left at least 22 people dead and came as pro-government forces were making major gains on the fifth day of their advance on the last major urban centre held by the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Kirkuk, an ethnically and religiously divided city currently under Kurdish control, woke up to find IS fighters spreading across several neighbourhoods.

An AFP correspondent saw a group of men carrying rifles and grenades and wearing "Afghan-style clothes" walk down one street in Kirkuk.

At least five suicide bombers struck government targets in the city, including the main police headquarters, in a coordinated attack that began in the middle of the night.

IS claimed the raid, according to the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency, one of the most spectacular such attacks by the group in recent months.

Gunfire and explosions echoed across the city all morning, residents said, and live footage on local television showed street battles in several neighbourhoods.

“Around morning prayers, I saw several Daesh [IS fighters] enter Al-Mohammadi mosque,” Haidar Abdelhussein, a teacher who lives in the Tesaeen neighbourhood, told AFP.

“They used the loudspeakers to shout ‘Allahu Akbar [God is greatest]’ and ‘Dawla al-Islam baqiya [Islamic State will remain]’,” he said.

Sniper fire an obstacle

The governor of Kirkuk, Najmeddin Karim, told AFP he suspected the involvement of IS sleeper cells. According to Amaq, the jihadist group claimed to control half of the city but reports from witnesses and security officers suggest that may be an exaggeration.

The IS fighters who attacked before dawn and later holed themselves up in several buildings appear to have no vehicles nor heavy equipment. “Our security forces are working relentlessly to eliminate all these terrorist cells by the close of day,” Colonel Arkan Hamed, from the provincial police, told AFP.

“Sniper fire is what is preventing us from ending this now,” he said.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters have played a major role in the advance on Mosul — Iraq’s biggest military operation in years. — AFP