ISIS carries out third attack against Peshmerga in Kurdistan Region
IRBIL, KRG (North Press)- On Monday evening, two Peshmerga fighters were killed and two others were wounded in a new attack carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Garmiyan area, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG).
The attack is the third to be reported within the current week since Saturday in the district of Kifri, Garmiyan area in the south of al-Sulaymaniyah city.
“One Peshmerga member was killed on the spot and three others were injured, one of them succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday,” a security source from Garmiyan told North Press.
In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of Peshmerga announced the death of a Peshmerga member and the injury of three others.
It announced identities of the victims who were fighters in the Third Brigade.
“The Peshmerga forces stationed in the hot zone managed to foil the third ISIS assault that followed the two successive attacks,” the statement reads.
In the first ISIS attack, on Saturday, five Peshmerga fighters were reported killed and four were injured near Klajo district in Karmiyan area.
On Sunday, ISIS attacked the Fourth Brigade affiliated with Peshmerga but no casualties reported.
Meanwhile, President of KRG, Nechirvan Barzani warned against the expansion and continuation of ISIS attacks saying, “They are a serious message, threat and real danger on the region.”
Barzani called for more cooperation and coordination between Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces backed by the Coalition forces and this is “an urgent need and a priority.”
The two attacks occurred in remote areas south Garmiyan that is affiliated with Sulaymaniyah governorate, which successively witnesses moves of ISIS sleeper cells as other areas on the disputing area between Erbil and Baghdad.
In a statement following the first attack, Prime Minister of the KRG, Masrour Barzani, announced, “The Peshmerga forces are in a state of alert and preparedness.”
“ISIS is exploiting the security gaps in those areas and it forms a serious threat to the security of the region and its residents,” he added.
“The joint security centers between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army in coordination with the US-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS must be activated,” the Prime Minister stressed.