Politics

ISIS gunmen kill 3 in attack on border guards in Iraq's disputed Khanaqin

Islamic State fighters killed three and wounded more in an attack against border guards on Friday night outside the disputed Iraqi city of Khanaqin, a security source said.

Kurdistan 24 2019/09/28 06:58

middle east Iraq Kurdistan Disputed Territories Diyala Khanaqin ISIS

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Islamic State fighters killed three and wounded more in an attack against border guards on Friday night outside the disputed Iraqi city of Khanaqin, a security source said.

“ISIS gunmen attacked the border guards late at night near the village of Mukhasi of Khanaqin,” the source said, adding that “three Kurds were killed” and an unspecified number of additional people were wounded.

The source said that the militants fled after security officials dispatched military reinforcements to the village, which has seen similar attacks in the past.

Khanaqin is located in Diyala province on the Iranian border, about 180 km (110 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad.

In August, Iraqi forces claimed to have cleared the general area of the extremist group’s sleeper cells in the third phase of a large scale military operation in the provinces of Diyala and Nineveh, dubbed, “Will of Victory.”

According to Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, the campaign started on Aug. 5 as troops targeted areas located north of Miqdadiya district in Diyala province, north of Jalawla, and Khanaqin, most of which are disputed territories between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq.

Less than a week after the announcement that the operation had ended, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters at an outpost in Khanaqin thwarted an Islamic State attack.

This was followed three days later by several mortar shells purportedly fired by Islamic State militants landing in a village in Khanaqin as security forces and members of the terror group clashed nearby.

The group’s members are reportedly still using parts of the rugged, arid mountain range to regroup, regain strength, and plan various attacks on nearby areas.

Over a year and a half since Iraq proclaimed a military victory over the Islamic State, the terror group’s activity continues in several parts of the country, often concentrated in the disputed territories where militants exploit a security vacuum once filled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.