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ISIS Top Dawg has a very Bad Day in Kirkuk
Kirkuk – Security forces of Iraqi Kurdistan announced on Monday the arrest of ISIS militants responsible for the recent deadly attacks in Kirkuk.

“ISIS terrorists behind Kirkuk attack were arrested today during an operation by our Counter-Terrorism Dept (CTD) in coordination with Asayish in Kirkuk,” the Kurdistan Security Council said in a statement.

The leader of the ISIS cell in Kirkuk was also killed on Monday.

“Abu Qudama, a senior ISIS military figure in Hawija, led the group responsible for Friday’s attack. Today he was killed in a firefight,” the council said.

The arrests were announced a few days after deadly ISIS attacks hit Kirkuk last Friday. Several Kurdish security forces were killed when ISIS militants managed to slip into Kirkuk city through a security gap between Bashir and Daquq, local sources reported.

Also, dozens of ISIS militants were killed in the attack, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces from the Mosul frontlines were forced to reinforce security in the city of Kirkuk.

ISIS jihadists in the city of Mosul celebrated the Kirkuk attacks, although the group was defeated in Kirkuk in a few days.

Experts told ARA News that the recent ISIS offensive was meant to delay the Hawija operation, which was initially planned two weeks ago.

“We were expecting attacks on Kirkuk, as the battle for Mosul has begun and Hawija becomes the next target,” Ranj Talabani, a Kurdish security analyst, said.

“Kirkuk has been kept relatively safe until today and it’s clear that ISIS have spent a lot of time planning today’s operations. We have some ISIS-individuals in custody so once they are interviewed it will be clearer how they entered the city in such large numbers,” Talabani told ARA News.
Posted by: badanov 2016-10-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=471199