ISIS launched a surprise assault on the city of Kirkuk and the town of Dubiz at 3:30 Friday morning, receiving assistance from tens of locals inside the city.
Travelling 170 kilometres
Chief of Kirkuk’s Suburban Police, Brigadier General Sarhad Qadir, said the ISIS militants travelled 170 kilometres to reach Kirkuk. They used the city’s sewage pipes to avoid detection and dispersed in detachments upon their arrival in the city.
“Their number was nearly 100 militants who had come from Mosul following preparation and training,” said Qadir.
“The militants started their journey from Mosul to Shargat using GPS devices to find their way to Kirkuk, demarcating the Peshmerga-controlled zones as the ‘land of blasphemy’ on their maps,” Qadir said.
Gathering information “we have collected from the iPods and cellphones recovered from militants killed in the battle,” security forces pieced together the militants’ route as they made their way to Kirkuk, sometimes travelling through sewage pipes to stay hidden and other times splitting into groups, taking several days to reach the city.
How did they make it?
How could these militants cross the Peshmerga and the Hashd al-Shaabi fronts undetected, eventually making it to Kirkuk? A number of scenarios have emerged since the attack, and various political factions of the city have blamed one another for the security breach.
This is not the first time ISIS has infiltrated the Kurdistan Region. A group of militants penetrated deep into Kurdish territory in the vicinity of Sangaw town, nearly a month ago.
These militants who infiltrated Kirkuk apparently used the route between Bashir and Daquq.
“These infiltrators exploited a 4 kilometre gap between the Peshmerga and the Hashd al-Shaabi around Bashir and Huzerya villages,” the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) security chief for Kirkuk, Halo Najat, told Rudaw, adding that they had already warned the city’s security forces about the dangers of the gap which was filled only after Friday’s assault.
The militants first took up position in the Domiz District south of Kirkuk. “A number of ISIS fighters broke into a mosque in Domiz early Friday morning, dispersing after the morning call to prayer. They might have planned their attack in the mosque,” an eyewitness told Rudaw.
What was their plan?
Upon arrival in Kirkuk, the militants entered southern and central districts and raised their flags. They attacked the KDP’s security office in Domiz, the city’s governorate building, the old police directorate building, and two hotels, Cihad and al-Snober.
Brigadier General Sarhad Qadir explained their attack, saying, “These infiltrators had a map of Kirkuk and its surroundings. One of their detachments, called Omar the son of Khatab, was reportedly tasked with surveying the area for artillery purposes. Their plan was apparently to seize the city’s Arab-inhabited districts by 9am then occupy some government and security buildings.”
“They consisted of nearly 5 groups, each comprising 15-20 militants; one group was tasked with breaking into the city’s prisons, aiming to release their prisoners,” Qadir added.
Their identity
“They all had long hair and long beards, carrying no IDs”, Major General Halo Najat stated.
According to Qadir, “The documents we have found on their cellphones indicate that some of them were Iraqi Turkmens, Kurds from eastern Kurdistan, Chechen, and Azerbaijani. We have since arrested tens of people for collaborating with them.”
More than 70 ISIS militants were killed and tens of their sleeper cells arrested. More than 40 Peshmerga, police, armed civilians, and security personnel lost their lives. Another 100 were injured, according to the latest statistics given to Rudaw by the city’s security officials.
The mastermind of the attack is arrested
A number of the militants were arrested, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region’s Security Council on October 23, 2016.
“Preliminary findings show that the mastermind of the terrorist attack is Mazin Naz-han Ahmed Abdulah Al-Ubedi Al-Riashi, known as Abu Islam Al-Ansari. He was injured in the attack, and was subsequently arrested in the city’s Yaki Huzairan District by civilians who later on turned him into security forces,” reads the Security Council’s statement.
Those arrested also include: Akram Taha Eidan Ahmed Dilemi, known as Abu Mustafa, allegedly the ISIS security chief for its Kirkuk detachment; Abdul-Rahman Fazil Abdul-Rahman al-Eizi, known as Abu Mohammed, allegedly the ISIS administration and finance chief inside Kirkuk; Abdul-Aziz Mahmud Eidan al-Dilemi, known as Azzawi; Abdul-Rahim Ahmed Abdulah Yaseen, known as Abu Ali, allegedly ISIS administrative assistant prior to their infiltration into Kirkuk; Lays Falah Nihma Ahmed Jiburi, known as Abu Ghasan, allegedly a member of the Inghimasi detachment; Abdul-Rahman Fazil Abbas Mohammed al-Ubedi, known as Abu Yahya, who allegedly transported ISIS suicide bombers to Dubiz; Ali Hussein Hamad Ibrahim Jiburi, known as Abu Mohammed, who is accused of transporting and harboring terrorists; and Muhanad Ibrahim Ali Dilemi, known as Abu Lays, who is accused of transporting terrorists in his truck to the vicinity of Kirkuk.
Some are still in Kirkuk
The city’s security officials believe that around 100 militants infiltrated the city, and some are still unaccounted for.“There are still around 37 ISIS militants on the run in Kirkuk; our security forces are looking for them”, the Director of Investigation Division at the KDP’s Security Office in Kirkuk, Brigadier General Chato Fazil, told Rudaw.
“The militants who attacked Kirkuk have not all been killed. Some of them are still on the run hiding out in Kirkuk. They emerge from time to time,” Chief of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Security Office in Kirkuk, Major General Halkawt Abdulah, told Rudaw.
Fazil, whose forces suffered 11 deaths and 23 injuries in the attack, explained the ISIS rationale behind the attack on Kirkuk, “The Islamic State’s aim was apparently to make up for a possible loss of Mosul by seizing Kirkuk. The documents we have found in their pockets show that they had a serious agenda for Kirkuk.”
“Their attack was well planned – penetrating deep into the city, reaching even Shoraw area.”
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