Former Australian MP caught in firefight between Peshmerga, IS

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Former Australian member of parliament said on Thursday that he was caught in deadly firefight confrontation between the jihadist group and Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the city of Sinjar (Shingal), western Mosul.

Wyatt Roy, who is a former MP and assistant minister for innovation, told Australian SBS that he was under the risk of being hit by a ’50-cal bullet’ which he called ‘pretty serious’.

According to Roy, he was in the town of Domez near Shingal when the Islamic State (IS) started to attack Peshmerga front line. He mentioned that about 15 jihadists participated in the assault.

The attack reportedly ended with the air strikes of the US-led coalition warplanes in the area that continuously provide aerial support to the Peshmerga forces against the jihadist group.

“The danger of a 50-cal bullet, or if they had bigger RPGs, or a mortar round hitting us was pretty serious, so we had to stay where we were. Once they [the Peshmerga] had pushed them back, they were very adamant that we get in the car and drive as fast as we could in the other direction,” Roy told SBS.

He mentioned that the firefight was very serious, and it took place all of the sudden. “Very quickly after we were attacked—it was obviously quite a serious situation—the Peshmerga called in an airstrike and probably within a half an hour, forty minutes, the jets were overhead.”

Australia is one of the major members of the US-led coalition that has largely contributed to the military campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria. There is a large number of Australian military advisers in Iraq that provide training to local forces.

Kurdistan Region shares over 1,000 km (620 miles) border with IS in northern Iraq. The Region is home to 1.8 million refugees and the internally displaced persons (IDPs), who fled from the threat of IS attacks in different parts of Iraq.

Editing by Ava Homa