Iraq
Iraqi troops during a search operation in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometres north of Baghdad. File photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday claimed responsibility for a Saturday attack on Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad that killed at least four people.
ISIS claimed, via its propaganda outlet Amaq news agency, that militants had planted two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and launched a grenade directly into army barracks in Tarmiyah district, saying they had killed and wounded 16 people.
In a statement on Telegram, Iraq’s security media cell said four soldiers and officers from the army’s 59th brigade were killed in the attack.
A source at the time told AFP the attack had been carried out by ISIS, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Members of the security forces are often targeted by the terror group.
Five Iraqi troops were killed in clashes with ISIS in the same area in February.
ISIS militants were also blamed for a Saturday attack against Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk province. Three Peshmerga fighters were killed and two were injured on the Kirkuk-Erbil road close to the village of Qaya Bashi.
In its weekly al-Naba propaganda newspaper released on Thursday, ISIS claimed it had carried out 38 operations across Iraq between April 21 and 28, killing and injuring 74 people.
Iraqi president Barham Salih on Saturday called for unity to support Iraqi armed forces to “eradicate terror across the region.”
Although territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, ISIS continues to launch attacks across the country, sheltering in the security vacuum void of either Iraqi or Kurdish forces in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Saturday called for the establishment of a joint armed force, made up of Peshmerga and Iraqi forces, in the disputed areas.
However, a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw on Sunday that talks between the two sides have borne little fruit.
“We have been holding meetings for three to four years but we haven’t reached an agreement. There is coordination, but only in talks … they want to control the areas we’re in not the ones, that Daesh is in,” Mahmoud Sangawi, head of the Peshmerga’s Garmaser front on Sunday told Rudaw’s Halo Mohammed, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
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