Layla Samad said her last phone conversation with her husband, Hemin Yahiya, was full of joy. “He was laughing and saying nice things,” she recalled, cradling a six-month-old baby, the youngest of her four children. “He then left forever and destroyed my life.”
Yahiya, 35, was a Peshmerga for ten years. He was stationed with the Peshmerga Brigade 10 near the village of Qaya Bashi, close to the town of Prde (Altun Kapri) on the Kirkuk-Erbil road.
A few minutes after midnight, ISIS militants attacked with mortars, machine guns, and AK-47s. The Kurdish soldiers fought back, bringing the situation under control in less than an hour. But three of their ranks were killed and two others injured.
Captain Pshtiwan Qaraniya, 41, joined the Peshmerga as a youth and served for 25 years. He was also a father to three children. Three days ago, he said good-bye to his family with hugs and kisses, saying he would return on Saturday. That was the last time they saw him.
The third man killed was 34-year-old Idris Bahram, father of five children and a Peshmerga for 15 years.
Bahram called his brother after the attack started, saying they were under fire. “I tried to call him many times, but he didn’t answer. He never came back,” said his brother Shekhan Bahram.
His young son, Mansour, speaking through tears said he was praying “that my dad would come home for Eid,” referring to the festive end of the holy month of Ramadan. “I didn’t know God was taking him back.”
Diplomats have issued statements of sympathy.
“I condemn the attack by Daesh last night and offer condolences to the families of the Peshmerga who were killed,” tweeted British Consul-General to Erbil James Thornton, using an Arabic name for ISIS. “This incident underlines the need for effective cooperation between the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] and the Government of Iraq in tackling Daesh.”
“The Consulate General of France in Erbil offers its sincere condolences to the families of three Peshmerga killed last night by Daesh in Prde,” tweeted French Consul-General Olivier Decottignies.
“The fight against Daesh is our common fight,” he added, calling for Baghdad and Erbil to “deepen their cooperation for the security of all Iraqis.”
Kirkuk province lies within territories disputed by the federal and regional governments and some areas are, therefore, void of Kurdish and Iraqi forces. ISIS militants have taken advantage of the situation, sheltering in the security vacuum.
After the attack, leaders in Erbil and Baghdad called for greater cooperation between their forces in order to secure the area.
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
Video editing by Mehmed Alsafar
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