Peshmerga foils ISIS attack in Kifri: ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic State (ISIS) militants carried out an attack against Peshmerga forces in Kifri on the Kurdistan Region’s borders with Iraq late Friday, the ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties. 

The Peshmerga ministry announced on Friday that ISIS attacked them on the Kifri-Garmaser border between the Sulaimani and Diyala provinces at 8pm, but that the attack was “forcefully and quickly responded to by Peshmerga forces”, with no Peshmerga hurt.

According to the ministry, ISIS also attacked them in Pirde (Altun Kupri) on the Erbil-Kirkuk border late Wednesday, resulting in no casualties.

ISIS claimed responsibility on Monday for a deadly attack against the Peshmerga in Pirde which killed two Peshmerga.

The terror group seized control of swathes of land in Iraq in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.

The group is especially active in the parts of northern Iraq that remain disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, including in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahaddin.

A Peshmerga commander on Sunday attributed the security gap between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in the disputed territories to the deadly attack.