At least 5 Iraqi federal police killed in suspected ISIS attack in Kirkuk

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Five members of Iraq’s federal security forces in Kirkuk were killed in an overnight attack that local authorities said was carried out by ISIS.

The attack in Daquq district, about 30 km (18 miles) from Kirkuk city center took place around 1:30 a.m. local time when suspected ISIS militants attacked a post erected by federal forces. Five members of the local police forces, Brigade 5, were killed in the attack, according to Media Government, the press outlet of Kirkuk’s local government.

Security sources in the area have told Kurdistan 24 that southern Kirkuk remains a hotbed for the ISIS militants even after the group’s ousting from most of the territory it controlled in 2017. Remnants of the group continue to launch attacks on local and federal security forces.

One source of vulnerability that the terror group has exploited is that the area is disputed between the Iraqi government and autonomous Kurdistan Region, which has caused a “security vacuum” due to lack of coordination between the forces until recently.

That security gap has widened in the years following the 2017 ouster of Kurdish Peshmerga forces from disputed areas by the Iraqi army and Iran-backed militias.

In early May, security forces in Kirkuk warned of increasing attacks by the terror group on its forces in the area.

The Peshmerga and their Iraqi counterparts have recently begun to jointly monitor ISIS activity in the disputed territories following the establishment of joint coordination centers in Kirkuk and other contested areas.