Kurdish Peshmerga forces repel ISIS attack near Tuz Khurmatu
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In a two-hour battle, Kurdish Peshmerga forces repelled an ISIS assault in Tuz Khurmatu in the northern province of Diyala in Iraq, said an official, adding that ISIS suffered casualties in the confrontations and six Peshmerga soldiers were also wounded.
“At 11:40 p.m. last night from several fronts, ISIS tried to close in on the Peshmerga fronts by laying bombs and attacks,” Fruq Ahmed, the manager of the Khurmatu security (Asayesh) forces, told Rudaw.
Ahmed explained the confrontation took place in Lower Hilewa village. It is 30 kilometers southwest of Khurmatu, located on the Tikrit-Khurmatu road.
“Unfortunately, some Peshmerga soldiers were wounded, but after two hours of clashes, the attacking ISIS militants were defeated and now the situation is calm,” he added.
Abdulla Bor, a veteran Peshmerga and commander of the Khurmatu front says he was slightly wounded in the attack.
“After we gained knowledge that ISIS had attacked, we informed all the forces and headed to the spot of the fighting,” he explained. “On our way, a pre-laid bomb was [unknowingly] triggered by us, but the Peshmerga immediately faced the ISIS militants, not allowing them to advance even for a span.”
Commenting on ISIS casualties, Bor claimed its militants have “greatly suffered, but the number of the killed is unknown to us as they brought the corpses with them back.”
As the extremist group loses its grip on territory in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province around Mosul, ISIS has increased its attacks in other parts of the country.
On May 18, the Peshmerga repelled a group of five ISIS militants’ pre-dawn assault on a Peshmerga base on the Tuz Khurmatu front. Tuz Khurmatu is among the vast territories that have been claimed by Baghdad and Erbil.
On May 7, a group of five ISIS militants launched another pre-dawn assault on the Peshmerga's Kaywan military base 15 kilometers south of Kirkuk city.