KIRKUK – The number of ISIS militants who infiltrated Kirkuk to carry out a deadly attack was 200, according to testimonies of militants who were captured by security forces. The testimonies were released by the Kurdistan Region’s Security Council Sunday evening. Security forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed an ISIS militant on Sunday, raising the number of extremists hunted and shot dead since a deadly October 21 attack by ISIS in the city to at least 47. “At 5 this morning we were notified by people that there were ISIS militants hiding in bushes in an open field,” a police officer said. “We have killed 47 militants so far, including one today,” he disclosed, adding that they were hunted down in villages around the town of Laylan in southern Kirkuk. Nearly 100 civilians and security forces were killed in the Oct. 21 attack by ISIS on government buildings and other installations in Kirkuk during a two-day gunfight in which 74 militants were killed and others arrested. The ISIS militants had sneaked into the city through sewage pipes to avoid detection in order to carry out the deadly attack, a Kirkuk security official detailed to Rudaw. Following the clashes, the Kurdistan Region’s Security Council announced that the leader of the infiltrators was killed and that 15 others were shot dead in separate clashes. The security official said that raids would continue in and around Kirkuk to find other perpetrators who may be in hiding. “It appears the militants had sneaked into Kirkuk through the Laylan plains and we believe that is the route they want to use to make their escape,” the police official said.
