ISIS militants have launched an attack on the oil-producing
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
There had been recent speculation that ISIS might
attack Kirkuk to force Kurdish troops to divert their efforts away from Mosul,
ISIS' stronghold in Iraq. Peshmerga fighters have moved in around the outskirts
of Mosul recently, backed by coalition airstrikes.
ISIS has previously held areas on the outskirts of
Kirkuk but not the central city.
Militants took over Maktab Khalid, an area southwest
of the city after heavy clashes with Kurdish Peshmerga troops. Among those
killed was Brig. Gen. Shirko Fateh, the highest-ranking operational commander
of the Peshmerga brigade located in Kirkuk.
Peshmerga fighters continued to battle, attempting to
retake the area.
Separately, heavily armed militants attacked an
abandoned hotel in central Kirkuk used by local police as headquarters. Police
and Peshmerga sources in Kirkuk told CNN that armed men put snipers on the
rooftop of the hotel and security forces are surrounding the area.
Peshmerga and Kurdish anti-terror units later raided
the hotel, wresting control of it from the militants and killing three of them,
Peshmerga sources said. In addition, two suicide bombers detonated themselves
in an attempt to keep the Kurdish forces out.
Source: CNN
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