Article

2019-05-31 Iraq

Kirkuk conniptions: Series of deadly explosions shake Kirkuk, turbans attack innocent peasants, burn fields

Video of an explosion and an aftermath at the link.

[Rudaw] A number of explosions hit Kirkuk city late on Thursday, killing three people and injuring at least 16 people.

Speaking on Rudaw TV, the head of Kirkuk Operations Saad Harbya said the situation is under control. He blamed the Islamic State (ISIS) for trying to "retaliate against the harsh attacks by Iraqi forces."

For nearly two months, Iraqi Security Forces have been conducting anti-ISIS clearing operations, primarily in southern Kirkuk.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) detonated around 10 p.m. (local time).

Rudaw's correspondent in Kirkuk said three people have died and 18 were wounded, including a high-ranking police officer.

Iraqi Security Media Cell later confirmed the explosion in a statement that six IEDs exploded in Kirkuk and security forces “defused” two others.

“These attacks took place in the streets of Quds, [near] the governor’s office and Baghdad Road in Kirkuk province, injuring two people,” it said. The area is a popular commercial area where many malls and nightlife spots are located.

The media cell added in a separate statement that three people were initially killed and 16 were injured.

No group immediately claimed the attacks.

Kirkuk villagers clash with ISIS, 1 dead and 7 wounded

Kirkuk (IraqiNews) War Media Cell announced, on Thursday, that some villagers in Kirkuk have clashed with the Islamic State militants. The clashes have resulted in the killing of one persons and wounding of seven others.

The Cell said in a press statement that Eftkharat Village’s residents, in Daquq District, clashed with some IS militants. One of the villagers was killed, while seven others were injured due to the clashes, the statement added.

The statement further added that the clashes resulted also in burning agriculture crops.

ISIS blamed for Kirkuk crop field fire that killed 1, injured 9

One person died and nine others were injured on Wednesday night when a fire tore through a wheat field in southern Kirkuk, local officials confirmed. Islamic States (ISIS) militants are thought to be behind a recent spate of arson attacks targeting crops.

Areas affected by the fire included Ali Saray, Anana and Kobani villages of the Kakai region and Dara in Haftaghar area in Daquq, southern Kirkuk.

“When the fire ripped through the farmlands of Ali Saray village, I was nearby and saw some people from a distance torching the crops,” Luqman Khurshid, a local agricultural worker, told Rudaw

The fire broke out at around 10:30 p.m., he said.

“One person named Hardi Saman was killed and nine others wounded while trying to put out the fire by bullets from ISIS militants,” Rajab Kakai, head of the Mitra Organization for the Development of Yarsani Culture, told Rudaw English.

“We have no doubt it was done by ISIS, because last fall they had come up to the farmers when cultivating their land warning them that they had to pay them Zakat when they harvested their crops,” he said, referring to a form of Islamic tax.

“The scale of the fire was big. More than 200 dunams of Kakai lands were torched last night,” Kakai added.

In a statement, Iraqi Security Forces said Haftaghar residents had clashed with “Daesh gangs”.

“The residents of [Haftaghar] village of Daquq district in the Kirkuk province clashed with members of terrorist Daesh gangs, leading to the martyrdom of one citizen ... and the burning of agricultural crops,” the Iraqi Security Media Cell said Thursday morning, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Arson attacks on agricultural land are a new tactic employed by ISIS remnants operating in the disputed territories.

Hundreds of dunams of cropland have been burned over the course of May in Diyala, Kirkuk, Saladin, and Nineveh provinces.

ISIS claimed responsibility for some of the attacks via its media outlets. Other incidents were potentially caused by land disputes, electrical faults, or by accident.

More cropland was burned earlier this month in Makhmour, a disputed area to the southwest of Erbil, after local farmers refused to pay the Islamic tax.

Disputed parts of Diyala, Nineveh, and Saladin provinces are claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil and Iraq’s central government in Baghdad. Militants are exploiting the security gaps between federal and Peshmerga lines.

ISIS is not the only militarized body accused of arson. In fires that took place in Khanaqin, locals blamed the Shiite paramilitaries Hashd al-Shaabi (known in English as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF). Locals there also claimed to have received calls demanding zakat.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-05-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top
File under: Islamic State

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