Clashes with Islamic State militants killed a senior Kurdish military commander and eight of his fighters just outside the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, officials said.
Attacks elsewhere killed 27 people, with twin bombs hitting a crowded market in Baghdad and a suicide bomber targeting pro-government Shiite militiamen who were manning a checkpoint outside a city north of the Iraqi capital.
The casualties near the oil-rich Kirkuk were a heavy setback for the Iraqi Kurds, who have been at the forefront of the battle against the Islamic State group, which has captured a third of both Iraq and Syria in its blitz last year.
Also on Friday, a car bomb exploded outside an empty, closed hotel near Kirkuk’s police headquarters, wounding two people. Both the Kurdish troops and the city’s security force have been trying to rout the IS group from Kirkuk.
After the car bombing, three gunmen took positions inside the hotel, located in the city centre, triggering a firefight with the Kurds and the police. Footage from the scene showed members of the Kurdish troops and the local police firing at the Qassir Hotel in Kirkuk and then storming it. Officials later said the gunmen were all killed.
