In Kirkuk: Kurdish police free ISIS hostage, killing abductors

Rudaw

KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region - In a successful bid to rescue a person kidnapped by two ISIS militants near the town of Dubiz in Kirkuk province, clashes erupted between police and the kidnappers, an official told Rudaw, adding that the militants and a police officer were killed in the confrontation.


Brig. Sarhad Qadir, the Kirkuk Suburban Police chief, told Rudaw the killed militants had initially kidnapped an individual near a village in Dubiz in the south of Kirkuk, and that a force from the Kirkuk Suburban Police had gone there to free the kidnapped individual.


Later he explained, clashes erupted and the two ISIS militants were killed. The Kurdish police also suffered casualties as an officer was shot dead and three others wounded.

Qadir added the kidnapped person was freed safely. 

Among the wounded is also the Dubiz Police chief, Qadir detailed.

“We have begun inspecting and clearing area now,” he added.  

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.

Qadir told Rudaw on Monday that fire had broken out an oil well in the village of Shirnawi which is under the administration of Dubiz.

He said that they had begun investigating the incident, adding that the cause of the fire could come from a “terrorist” activity, in particular an improvised explosive device (IED).


Earlier this week and in a two-hour battle, Kurdish Peshmerga forces repelled an ISIS assault in Tuz Khurmatu in the northern province of Diyala. In the confrontation, ISIS suffered casualties and six Peshmerga soldiers also were wounded.

On May 18, the Peshmerga repelled a group of five ISIS militants’ pre-dawn assault on a Peshmerga base on the Tuz Khurmatu front, which 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.