Terrorist attack in Iraq leaves at least 13 dead.
On December 3, Iraqi officials reported that at least three civilians and 10 members of the Kurdish armed forces were killed in an attack believed to have been carried out by the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) in the north of the country.
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| Iraqi counter-terrorism forces stand guard outside the US Embassy in Baghdad on January 2, 2020. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
According to AFP, on the evening of December 2nd, jihadists attacked the village of Khidir Jija, south of Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan. Three civilians, brothers aged 11-24, were killed in the attack. Kurdish armed forces launched a retaliatory operation, and 10 of their members were killed when an explosive device planted by the attackers detonated.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the attack occurred in the remote mountainous region of Makhmour, about 60km southwest of Arbil and about 70km southeast of Mosul. This is a hotspot where IS frequently attacks target Kurdish forces and civilians. IS has not yet commented on the incident.
Late last month, five members of the Iraqi Kurdish forces were killed and four others wounded in a bombing south of the city of Sulaimaniyah. Local authorities accused ISIS of carrying out the attack.
Between 2014 and 2017, IS controlled approximately one-third of Iraqi territory, including the city of Mosul and the Makhmour mountain region. The US-led military coalition conducted an anti-terrorism campaign and drove the organization out of Iraq.
The Iraqi government declared ISIS defeated at the end of 2017, but jihadist fighters remain in hiding and continue to carry out attacks against security forces. According to Western military sources, at least 10,000 ISIS fighters are still hiding in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
