Isis tries to buy time
BAGHDAD With an Iraqi government-led offensive under way to oust Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants have staged an attack in the oil hub of Kirkuk, designed to divert forces from the front lines.
More than 60 civilians were killed yesterday in attacks in Kirkuk, about 160 kilometres south of Mosul, officials said. The death toll is expected to rise as security forces battle the militants in residential areas.
A missile strike at a Shi’ite shrine outside the city killed at least 15 women and wounded about 50, according to Hassan Barham, an official with one of Kurdistan’s main political par- ties, the Patriotic Union Kurdistan.
Ali Dalagi, an Iraqi army spokesman, said the strike came from a plane, and the army was investigating. United States-led coalition forces conducting air strikes as part of the Mosul offensive released a statement saying they were investigating, but that it appeared they were not responsible.
In addition to those killed in the attack on the shrine, at least 63 people had been killed and 100 wounded in clashes across the city, said Brigadier General Azad Jalal, the assistant police chief in Kirkuk.
He said up to 70 militants of staged the attack. Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that 10 Isis snipers were on the loose in the southern Domiz neighbourhood.
Jalal said some of the fighters came from outside the city. ‘‘They started their attacks with the help of some sleeper cells inside the city, and we think those cells came with [displaced persons],’’ he said.
‘‘Their goal was to distract us from the Mosul offensive.’’
Isis said it had seized 10 neighbourhoods, destroyed military vehicles, and besieged the provincial government building.
It has been almost two years since the last attack in Kirkuk, home to 10 per cent of Iraq’s oil reserves. The city is also a fulcrum for political and ethnic tensions, with the potential to make or break national reconciliation between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.
‘‘It was expected that Isis sleeper cells would make a move in Kirkuk one day,’’ Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim said. ‘‘Now that the Mosul offensive has started, they want to boost their own morale this way.’’
The Mosul offensive, led by Iraqi troops, began on Tuesday with the help of Kurdish, tribal and militia forces and coalition air strikes.
Islamic State fighters seized the city of 1.2 million people two years ago and have been fighting bitterly as Iraqi troops enter surrounding villages, attacking with mortar shells, snipers and suicide bombs.
The Kirkuk attack was multipronged. In the northwest, four militants armed with suicide vests stormed a power station and killed at least a dozen workers. Fighters also attacked hotels, police stations and other government buildings. Kirkuk residents who claimed to be aiding security forces posted photographs online of uniformed, armed militants stalking their streets. LA Times