Six Iraqi police, 12 IS fighters killed in Kirkuk clashes- police
Oct 21, – “There are sporadic clashes between the security forces and Daesh,” a police colonel told in Kirkuk, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
Ongoing clashes between Iraqi security forces and jihadist gunmen apparently attempting to take over parts of the city of Kirkuk on Friday have left at least six policemen dead, security sources said.
He said at least six policemen and 12 IS fighters had been killed in fighting, mostly in southern neighbourhoods, a toll confirmed by other officers.
Just months after its recapture from the Islamic State group, the sprawling Qayyarah base in north Iraq has become a hub for operations to retake Mosul from the jihadists.
Iraq this week announced the start of operations to retake Mosul, its last city held by IS, and security forces are fighting their way toward it from the north, east and south.
Iraqi police and soldiers, and hundreds of forces from the US-led coalition against IS are also deployed here, carrying out artillery strikes against the jihadists and working to rebuild the base.
“It is an area for mobilising the units taking part in liberating the city of Mosul and the villages… surrounding it,” Staff Brigadier General Qusay Kadhim Hamid, a senior commander in the interior ministry’s elite rapid response forces, said of the base.
Lieutenant General Raed Tawfiq Jawdat, commander of the federal police, said it is the most important base for supplying Iraqi forces that are advancing toward Mosul from the south.
There are at least 7,000 forces deployed in Iraq as part of a 60-nation coalition assisting the war against IS in Iraq and Syria. At least half of them are Americans.
The base is surrounded by a massive dirt berm, with tanks and other armoured vehicles positioned inside.
Most of the soldiers and police on the base are housed in tents that are coated with the powdery dust that covers the ground in the base and the desert beyond.
IS jihadists did their best to deny Iraqi forces use of the base before they lost it in July, destroying buildings, toppling concrete walls, and disabling the runway.
Press journalist for HRO media – Khizer Hayat reports.
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