One Iraqi soldier killed, three injured in ISIS attack in Diyala

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) militants killed one Iraqi soldier and injured at least three more in a Sunday attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint near the Diyala province town of Jalawla, known in Kurdish as Gulala.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell confirmed the attack on Sunday night, announcing a search for its perpetrators.

“Security forces are conducting a search operation looking for terrorist elements, which attacked [Iraqi Army] Brigade 20 in the Khanaqin district of Diyala province, killing a fighter”, read a Media Cell tweet. 

The attack occurred at 9:50 pm, said Halo Mohammed, Rudaw’s reporter in Garmiyan.

Lieutenant colonel Ahmed Mustafa, a Peshmerga commander, confirmed the attack to Rudaw on Monday.

“The confrontation between Daesh militants and the Iraqi Army continued for half an hour. Those injured and killed [Iraqi Army soldiers] have been evacuated to Khanaqin’s hospital,” Lt. Col. Mustafah said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Iraqi forces made use of flares in a bid to locate the attack’s site of origin, the commander further added.

Khanaqin and Gulala are among territories disputed between the Iraqi federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government. A security vacuum has emerged in the areas contended by Erbil and Baghdad. 

ISIS has found a safe haven for its activities in these areas since the Peshmerga withdrew on October 16, 2017 due to an Iraqi Army offensive, and the breakdown of Iraqi Army-Peshmerga coordination and cooperation.

In recent months, ISIS has launched a series of attacks against the Peshmerga, Iraqi Army, and Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in the province.

Last week, three people were killed and seven others were wounded after ISIS attacked a village in southwestern Khanaqin.

These areas have also seen a recent rise in kidnappings by ISIS, with the group collecting ransom money to fund their activities.

On Monday, two men in Kurdish controlled areas of Garmiyan were released by ISIS after their families $40,000 paid in ransom each to the terrorist group. A day earlier, two Kurdish brothers were also released from ISIS abduction in Garmiyan in return for a ransom of $70,000.

The resurgence of ISIS has stoked international concern. James F. Jeffrey, US Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL (ISIS) said in a briefing in January, “the fight against ISIS, of course, had a signal success back in March with the defeat of the caliphate along the Euphrates in Syria, but we are seeing ISIS come back as an insurgency, as a terrorist operation, with some 14- to 18,000 terrorists between Syria and Iraq and ISIS considers both countries as – as they have always done, as a single front.”