Iraq's Model City: Kirkuk Thrives in Sea of Corruption and Violence

[longknife]

By Christoph Reuter @ Kirkuk Thrives Despite Corruption and Sectarian Violence in Iraq - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Ten years after the US invasion, Iraq is still plagued by sectarian violence, poverty and corruption. The northern city of Kirkuk, however, has defied predictions to emerge as a model of inter-ethnic reconciliation and relatively efficient government.

Perhaps all those lost and ruined lives were not for nothing!

 

[waltky]

ISIS attacks power plant in Kirkuk...

IS Attacks Iraq City of Kirkuk, Power Plant Amid Mosul Fight
Oct 21, 2016 — Islamic State militants armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early Friday in an assault that appeared aimed at diverting Iraqi security forces from a massive offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul.

At least 11 workers, including two Iranians, were killed when IS militants stormed a power plant north of Kirkuk and then blew themselves up. Multiple explosions meanwhile rocked the city, and gun battles were ongoing, said witnesses in Kirkuk, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were concerned for their safety. Much of the fighting was centered on a government compound in the city. They said the streets were largely deserted out of fear of militant snipers. IS said its fighters targeted the provincial headquarters. The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency and could not immediately be verified.

Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw aired footage showing black smoke rising over the city as extended bursts of automatic gunfire rang out. It quoted Kirkuk Gov. Najmadin Karim as saying that the militants have not seized any government buildings. In the power plant attack, which took place in Dibis, a town north of Kirkuk, three IS suicide bombers entered the facility and took 10 workers hostage, said Maj. Ahmed Kader Ali, the Dibis police chief. The attackers asked to be taken to the Iranians who worked at the plant. One of the workers took them to the Iranians before escaping. The militants then killed the Iranians and the other workers, and detonated their explosive vests when police arrived, Ali said.

Smoke rises from a building where two militants are believed to be holed up, according to Rudaw TV, in Kirkuk, Iraq​

Kirkuk is some 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces have been waging a wide-scale offensive since Monday. The oil-rich city is some 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul. It is claimed by both Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish region. Kurdish forces assumed full control of Kirkuk in the summer of 2014, as Iraq's army and police crumbled in the face of a lightning advance by IS. Later Friday, Rudaw TV said all IS militants who took part in the Kirkuk attack had been killed except for two who were holed up in a newly built hotel, which was damaged in the attack and from where they were battling Kurdish forces.

Kirkuk police commander Brig. Gen. Khattab Omer said clashes were still underway, without providing further details. There was no immediate word on casualties among civilians or Kurdish forces in Kirkuk, and the TV report could not immediately be confirmed. Kemal Kerkuki, a senior commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces west of Kirkuk, said the town where his base is located outside the city also came under attack early on Friday. He said the base is now under control. He said IS maintains sleeper cells in Kirkuk and the surrounding villages. "We arrested one recently and he confessed," he said, adding that the attackers may have posed as displaced civilians in order to infiltrate the city.

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[waltky]

Mass Graves Found in Iraq Could Contain up to 400 Bodies...

Mass Graves Found in Iraq Could Contain up to 400 Bodies
12 Nov.`17 - Iraqi security forces have found mass graves in an area recently retaken from the Islamic State group that could contain up to 400 bodies, an Iraqi official said Sunday.

The bodies of civilians and security forces were found in an abandoned base near Hawija, a northern town retaken in early October, Kirkuk governor Rakan Saed said. He didn't say when authorities will start exhuming the bodies from the mass graves. Iraqi security forces speak to shepherd Khalaf Luhaibi next to bones on the ground at an abandoned base near the northern town of Hawija, Iraq, Nov. 22, 2017.

Khalaf Luhaibi, a local shepherd who led troops to the site, said IS used to bring captives to the area and shoot them dead or pour oil over them and light them on fire. The area was strewn with torn clothing and what appeared to be human bones and skulls. Iraqi forces have driven IS from nearly all the territory it once controlled. Authorities have already uncovered several mass graves in other newly liberated areas.

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have driven the extremists from nearly all the territory they once controlled, with some fighting still underway near the western border with Syria. Bones lie on the ground in an area recently retaken from the Islamic State group, at an abandoned base near the northern town of Hawija, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2017.

On Saturday, Iraq's prime minister announced an operation to capture a patch of territory on the western edge of the country near the border with Syria. Hours later, Iraqi Defense Ministry announced capturing Romana area, saying the troops will head to nearby town of Rawa. According to Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Shiite-majority paramilitary forces, Rawa is the last Iraqi town held by IS who still control some scattered small villages in mainly desert areas.

Mass Graves Found in Iraq Could Contain up to 400 Bodies

See also:

Anti-Daesh War Cost Iraq $100 Billion in Losses: PM
Sunday 12th November, 2017 | Losses from the war on the Daesh (also known as ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group have cost Iraq $100 billion, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said Saturday.

'Iraq has lost $100 billion in the anti-Daesh war, but we have achieved success in three battles; namely liberating the land, maintaining Iraq's unity and standing up to the threats,' al-Abadi said during a speech in the southern Karbala province, Anadolu Agency reported.

As for the crisis between Baghdad and northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), al-Abadi said 'we don't need mediation with our Kurdish people'. '[Kurdish] Peshmerga fighters enjoy patriotism, and we regret accusing those who did not fight against the Iraqi army of betrayal,' he said.

Tension escalated between the federal government in Baghdad and KRG following the Sept. 25 referendum on secession of the Kurdish region, which Baghdad insists is unconstitutional. The Iraqi premier said the country's parliamentary election would take place as scheduled in May.

Anti-Daesh War Cost Iraq 100 Billion in Losses PM