Peshmerga foil five attempted suicide bombings

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kurdish Peshmerga forces have repelled an Islamic State (IS) attack consisting of five suicide bombers, said a Peshmerga commander on Tuesday morning.

Kamal Kirkuki, a Peshmerga commander on the west frontline of Kirkuk Province in northern Iraq, told Kurdistan24 that five IS suicide bombers attacked the Peshmerga frontline in the early morning, but were defeated.

“Peshmerga killed them before they reached the frontline,” he continued. “They [IS extremists] were firing at the Peshmerga front from far away with machine guns.”

Kirkuki also mentioned that Arab citizens in the area assisted the extremists in their attack against Peshmerga, but their plan failed. “Now, the bodies of the suicide bombers are in the hands of Peshmerga,” he said.

According to Kurdistan24 reporter Hemin Dalo, some Peshmerga fighters were wounded in the attack.

On March 12, extremists attacked the same frontline with six suicide bombers, but Peshmerga repelled their offensive.

Moreover, on March 13, Kurdish counter-terrorism forces, who are part of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), arrested IS member Mohammed Yassin Muhsin. Muhsin was one of the supervisors of IS' suicide attack on a Peshmerga frontline in western Kirkuk on March 12.

The Kurdistan Region has over 1,000 kilometers (622 miles) of shared border with IS in northern Iraq. Peshmerga forces have been one of the most active ground forces in defeating the extremists.

Reporting by Hemin Dalo and Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa