Khanaqin village chief killed in suspected ISIS attack
Remnants of the Islamic State group have been known to carry out similar attacks in disputed territories.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The head of a village in Diyala province was killed and two other wounded overnight Sunday in an attack by armed men suspected of being part of the so-called Islamic State group.
Unidentified men raided Qayee village in the Khanaqin district of Diyala province, located in eastern part of Iraq, part of areas disputed between the Iraqi and autonomous Kurdistan Region governments.
The village chief was killed and two other men severely wounded, according to a Kurdistan 24 correspondent, who reported that the area has witnessed an uptick in similar attacks.
An Iraqi army unit arrived on the scene and transferred the bodies to a local hospital, a source from a nearby Peshmerga unit told Kurdistan 24.
Remnants of ISIS have been known to carry out similar attacks in disputed territories under the authority of the Iraqi army and federal police.
Security experts as well as officials from the Kurdistan Region constantly warn against the rising threat from ISIS in the disputed territories, easily exploited due to the lack of cooperation between regional and federal security agencies.
Following a dual rocket attack on Diyala’s Kifri district earlier this month, which resulted in the wounding of a civilian, the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga minister asked the Iraq’s premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi to directly engage in bringing the two official forces closer for security cooperation in these areas.
Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly
