SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Two high-ranking Peshmarga officials – one a brigadier general and the other a colonel -- were wounded in Sulaimani on Monday by magnetic “sticker” bombs attached to their vehicles, security officials in the city said.
“The two incidents are related and we are certain the same suspect is behind the two bombs,” Hassan Nuri, chief of the security service (Asayish) in Sulaimani, told Rudaw.
According to Nuri, the early morning bombs went off within six minutes of each as the two officials were driving to work. “Investigations are going on and the hunt to catch the perpetrators is on,” said Nuri.
Sulaimani has witnessed a tense security situation since the September 21 parliamentary elections, in which the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) lost its domination of more than two decades to its main rival, the Change Movement (Gorran). Both claim Sulaimani as their stronghold.
“We ensure the people of Sulaimani that the situation is calm and things are under control,” said the security chief.
The autonomous Kurdistan Region has largely escaped the daily violence that has gripped the rest of Iraq since the US invasion in 2003.
However, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have shattered the calm on a few occasions, including a brazen car bomb attack on the Erbil security headquarters in late September which killed seven security officers and six gunmen who tried to storm the building.
Kurdish authorities have expressed concern that the Syrian conflict is posing a threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region, as extremist groups gain strength across the border. That complaint has been echoed by officials in other countries bordering Syria.
A statement by Sulaimani’s security department says that more than 60 young Kurds, mainly from the province, have traveled to Syria to join jihadist groups in their fight against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
According to the statement, the security forces try to stop young Kurds from making the journey, and have so far detained 16 people on terrorism charges.
