Kirkuk police officer killed in roadside blast

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – One police officer died and two were severely injured after their vehicle struck an IED in the Panja Ali neighborhood of Kirkuk on Friday.

A Rudaw reporter at the scene reported that a roadside bomb caused the police vehicle to explode while worshipers in Panja Ali were leaving mosques after Friday prayers.  A number of people were wounded, and a Kurdish member of the emergency police named Karwan Osman Yasin died as a result of his injuries.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells have conducted similar attacks in the past.

Kirkuk province is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi Federal government.

After the Iraqi armed forces fled the advancing Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 and Kurdish Peshmerga forces stepped in to defend Kirkuk, the city fell under the control of the KRG.  Iraqi forces then drove the Peshmerga out of Kirkuk in October 2017 in the wake of the Kurdish independence referendum.

ISIS frequently takes advantage of the lack of cooperation between the Iraqi and Kurdish armed forces to launch attacks in Kirkuk.

Several people were wounded on November 30 after two explosions took place in downtown Kirkuk and in the countryside surrounding the city.

On November 11, five Italian soldiers were injured in a roadside IED blast in Kirkuk while conducting counter-terrorism training for the Iraqi armed forces.

ISIS has increased its attacks in other disputed areas as well. The most recent attack was in Diyala province’s Kolajo (Golajo) sub-district on Wednesday, killing three Peshmerga fighters.

The latest Pentagon Inspector General report, which provides US congress with a quarterly update on the fight against the Islamic State, said that ISIS has continued to reestablish and expand its command and control structure in Iraq, enabling the group to stage more attacks.

"ISIS in Iraq conducted both attacks of opportunity, such as improvised bombs and hit-and-run attacks, and attacks designed to intimidate or gain influence, such as assassinations, kidnappings, and sniper attacks,” the report read, citing the Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), a multinational force which leads the fight against ISIS.