Kurdistan's Peshmerga launch anti-ISIS operation after attacks

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces on Monday launched an anti-ISIS operation in the vicinity of the Kolajo town, where remnants of the terrorist organization two days earlier attacked the Kurdish forces, killing five and wounding four others.

Just one day after the initial attack, a Peshmerga unit repelled a second suspected ISIS attack near Kolajo, located in the Garmiyan Administration, an unofficial province in the Kurdistan Region that includes the three districts of Kalar, Kifri, and Chamchamal.

Read More: Peshmerga repels ISIS attack in Garmiyan area

Top officials from the Kurdistan Region as well as the US, the UK, and France extended their condolences to the families of the victims and condemned the Saturday attack that left five Kurdish fighters dead.

Garmiyan borders areas disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal Iraqi government. The Kurdish Peshmerga and Asayish forces are in charge of security in Garmiyan, while national Iraqi forces control the region to its south and west.

Kurdish officials have warned that the security vacuum in these areas created by the lack of coordination between the two forces offers terrorists the opportunity to regroup and stage attacks in nearby populated areas.