By Samie Zubair
KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – Kirkuk police announced Friday they had rounded up 25 people suspected of a hand in this week’s suicide attack on the mayor’s office and a police station in Dubis.
Kirkuk police chief Gen. Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw the suspects and some weapons were seized in raids early Friday on several neighborhoods of Kirkuk, after tip offs that supporters of the Islamic State group (ISIS) were holed out there.
“At this stage we cannot say that all those detained today are members of militant groups, but we will certainly take every measure necessary to ensure public safety,” Qadir said.
He added that at least three weapons were confiscated in the raids, which lasted several hours.
Four police officers were killed and 15 security forces were wounded in Tuesday’s attack. Police said nine suicide bombers and one ISIS militant were also killed in the assault.
Since 2003, Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish,have been patrolling the disputed oil city of Kirkuk which is home to over one million people, with more than half of them Kurds and the other half Turkmen and Sunni Arabs.
Local ISIS collaborators in the nearby villages have been shelling Peshmarga positions who entered the province after the Iraqi army abandoned the area following an ISIS offensive in June last year.
_(1).webp&w=3840&q=75)
