ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish civilian teenager was killed on Sunday during clashes between Iraqi counter-terrorism forces and suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in Prde (Altun Kupri) town in Kirkuk province. It remains unclear who shot him.
The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (ICTS) said its forces carried out an operation in Prde targeting three ISIS suspects, killing two and arresting a third.
A young Kurdish civilian, Murad Zana, was also shot dead during the clashes. It remains unclear who fired the shot that killed the teenager.
The ICTS did not mention Zana’s death in its statement about the operation, but Saad Maan, head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, confirmed to Rudaw that a civilian was killed during the clashes.
The operation unfolded after ICTS forces, acting on prior intelligence, tracked the suspected militants to an area near a household supplies warehouse in central Prde.
According to information obtained by Rudaw, the forces had initially planned to target the suspects in an unpopulated area. However, the militants apparently realized they were being monitored and opened fire, prompting the forces to return fire.
Two ICTS members were injured in the fighting, according to Maan.
Witnesses said some of the suspected militants took cover inside the warehouse.
“It happened in the late afternoon. Those ISIS members entered [the warehouse] and fought with the army. They later blew themselves up,” Hakim Rahman, the brother of the warehouse owner, told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed.
Rawand Hakim, the warehouse owner’s nephew, said there were signs of an explosion inside the building.
“It appears that he may have blown himself up inside because I saw pieces of flesh, hair and many things inside [the warehouse],” he said.
The covert nature of the operation meant that other security agencies and local authorities were not informed in advance, according to officials.
Abdulmutalib Najmaddin, mayor of Prde subdistrict, said he and other local authorities had no prior knowledge of the operation.
“Those forces entered without informing anyone. Although I am the head of the administrative unit and head of the security committee of this subdistrict [I was not informed in advance]. No security or governmental institution was informed. They closed the road and started shooting inside the warehouse, and one of our young men was martyred,” Najmaddin told Rudaw.
Zana’s family expressed anger over the conduct of the operation after his body was retrieved from the warehouse.
“Does it make sense to bring all those forces and storm the town, firing DShK heavy machine guns at the warehouse? What does a child as young as 14 know about any of this?” Yawar Anwar, Zana's uncle, said.
ISIS seized swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014, including large parts of Kirkuk province, before being territorially defeated in the country in 2017.
Despite losing its territorial control, the group continues to maintain small cells in disputed and remote areas of Iraq, periodically carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians.
