Peshmerga and security repel multiple IS attacks in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Early on Friday, Islamic State (IS) launched multiple attacks inside and around Kirkuk province in southern Kurdistan Region, and they temporarily controlled several buildings inside the province.

IS militants in early morning attacked different parts of Kirkuk, including the electricity office of Dubiz district in northwestern Kirkuk, Domiz neighborhood in southeastern Kirkuk and other areas in the province.

The chief of Kirkuk Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Kurdistan24 that they have killed over 20 IS militants.

The jihadist group also launched assaults on Peshmerga front lines in the south and southwestern Kirkuk in an attempt to infiltrate into Kirkuk, said a Peshmerga commander.

Following the IS attacks, some Peshmerga forces were transferred from Erbil to Kirkuk, to help the security forces repel IS attacks.

In addition, a large group of Kurdish volunteers joined security forces to defeat IS in the province.

Moreover, Tehran confirmed that four Iranian technicians have been killed in Dubiz electricity office by IS while the Iraqi Electricity Ministry stated that five Iranians have been killed.

Kurdistan24 correspondent Hoshmand Sadiq talked to Iranian technicians in Dubiz who stated three Iranian employees were dead and about nine injured.

Additionally, the US-led coalition jets shelled IS positions in the Sunni Arab-populated neighborhood of Tis'een in Kirkuk.

The spokesperson of Peshmerga Ministry Halgurd Hikmat, told Kurdistan24 that the IS militants have sneaked to Kirkuk with the flow of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from outside of the province.

Kirkuk is home to 700,000 IDPs who mostly fled from other parts of Iraq due to the threat of the IS attacks.

IS attacks on Kirkuk comes at a time when Kurdish and Iraqi forces have already launched a military operation to retake the city of Mosul in northern Iraq from the jihadist group.

For more exclusive videos of the clashes between both Kirkuk security and IS militants click here.

Editing by Ava Homa

(Soran Kamaran, Hemin Dalo and Hunar Ahmad contributed to this report from Kirkuk)