Armed group explode Korek Telecom office south of Baghdad, kidnap employees

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – An armed group on Friday night attacked Korek Telecom’s office in the city of Hilla in Iraq’s Babil Province and kidnapped employees, the company stated.

The company accused Iraqi security forces in the area of not taking action after seeing the armed group detonate the office “in front of their eyes.”

The explosion of the office comes at a time when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi last week released a new set of sanctions on the Kurdistan Region following the Sep. 25 independence referendum.

Abadi had demanded Korek and Asia Cell communication companies move their headquarters from Erbil to areas under the federal authority of Iraq in Baghdad.

Korek provides service to millions of customers across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

“The armed men were in four pickup trucks of which none of the vehicles had a plate number,” the statement continued.

“The group detonated devices in the office which resulted in network disconnection in the provinces of Najaf, Karbala, Babil, al-Qadisiyyah, and Muthanna,” the company’s report added.

The communications company claims the group had also kidnapped seven employees and two engineers.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on the central government in Baghdad to engage in dialogue and peaceful negotiations to address the issues between them following the historic vote.

However, Baghdad continues to demand a cancellation of the referendum results, where over 92 percent voted for secession from Iraq, as a pre-condition to begin the dialogue.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany