Security chief near Kirkuk targeted by ISIS sniper; bodyguard killed

DAQUQ, Iraq – The security chief of this Iraqi town south of Kirkuk was targeted by a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) sniper in an attack on Sunday in which one of his bodyguards was killed, a local official said.

Shots were fired on a car carrying Akram Sarspi and his guards on the 57 Kilometer Road south of the oil city of Kirkuk.  The area is close to the frontline between ISIS and Kurdish forces.

Said Amir Khwa Karam, a local Daquq official, said the attack took place in the evening near the town of Taza.

“They were targeted by ISIS militants and one of the guards was martyred,” he said.

Kirkuk and areas south of it lie outside the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government, so-called “disputed territories” claimed by both Baghdad and the KRG.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk and surrounding districts when Iraqi forces fled an ISIS offensive in June.

Long-standing tensions exist in the area between rival communities, including those ostensibly cooperating in the fightback against ISIS.

Members of a Shia militia were last week reported to have fired on Peshmerga troops, detaining several.