“A number of unknown armed persons attacked the main office of Korek Telecom network in the city of Hillah in the province of Babil at 08:20 pm, October 13, 2017," read statement issued by Korek Telecom on Friday night. "They blew up the building after they kidnapped seven employees."
The statement added that due to the act "the Korek Telecom network in the city of Hillah, the network of Korek in the provinces of Najaf, Karbala, Babil, Diwaniyah and Muthanna is cut off."
The telecommunications company also said that the armed persons stormed the Korek office in front of on looking security forces and civilians while the Muharam procession, the Islamic New Year, was under way.
The statement added that the attack on Korek Telecom came when there was huge traffic on the network.
The incident comes amid escalating tensions between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad since the independence referendum vote was held which include fears of armed clashes in the disputed or Kurdistan areas, particularly the Kirkuk region claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad.
Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi are in a standoff with Peshmerga over Kirkuk. The Peshmerga sent 6,000 reinforcements to the disputed area on Thursday night to counter a buildup of Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi.
In the latest measures issued by the federal government following Kurdistan’s independence vote, Baghdad ordered that “networks of the communication for mobile phones should be under the authority of the federal authorities and have to be transferred to Baghdad.”
The headquarters of two of the three major telecommunication companies in Iraq including Asiacell and Korek Telecom are based in the Kurdistan Region.
Korek Telecom provides mobile services across Iraq, not just the Kurdistan Region.
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