ISIS fanatics have opened up a new front in the battle for Iraq after suicide bombers attacked government targets in another city to divert attention from the fight to retake Mosul.
Militants armed with assault rifles and explosive vests attacked a compound in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and killed 16 at a constructions site further north as the jihadists' grip on Mosul started to slip.
In one attack, three bombers infiltrated a power plant being built by an Iranian company near Dibis, a town about 25 miles northwest of Kirkuk.
Hours earlier, a commando of suicide bombers armed with rifles attacked multiple locations in Kirkuk, an ethnically divided city 150 miles north of Baghdad, security sources said.
A Kurdish intelligence officer said four suicide bombers attacked the main police headquarters in the city at around 3am while witnesses said dozens of armed jihadists were seen in the streets of Kirkuk.
The assaults were aimed at diverting the authorities' attention from the battle to retake the ISIS-held Mosul.
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| ISIS fanatics have opened up a new front in the battle for Iraq after suicide bombers attacked government targets in another city to divert attention from the fight to retake Mosul. An injured Kurdish man walks at a site of an attack by ISIS in Kirkuk. |
The mayor of Dibis said the attack in his town led to clashes with security forces, who managed to kill one of the bombers before he detonated his vest. The other two blew themselves up once they were surrounded, he said.
Several other targets in the south of the city were attacked by what the officer said were members of ISIS, sparking clashes with security forces that were still ongoing five hours later.
A Kirkuk official told AFP that a total curfew was slapped on the city.
Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw aired footage showing black smoke rising over the city as extended bursts of automatic gunfire rang out. The TV, however, quoted Kirkuk Gov. Najmadin Karim as saying that the militants have not seized any government buildings.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The attack comes as the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces are making a major push to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul.
Kirkuk is an oil-rich city that is claimed by both Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish region. It has long been a flashpoint for tension and has been the scene of multiple attacks by ISIS.
Iraqi troops wait for an attack to begin against the jihadists' last major stronghold in the country
The approaches to Mosul run through clusters of mostly abandoned villages where ISIS militants have planted roadside bombs and other booby traps
A member of the Iraqi government forces takes a position on top of a vehicle as smoke rises on the outskirts of the Qayyarah area, some 35 miles south of Mosul
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| Smoke fills the air as Iraq's forces continue the massive operation against the jihadists |
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The Battle for Mosul is going 'faster than planned' according to Iraq's prime minister, as it emerged ISIS is retaliating with suicide car attacks, roadside bombs and snipers. Peshmerga forces fire an anti-aircraft gun towards ISIS.
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