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Kirkuk
- ISIS (Da’esh) continued launching attacks, including a mortar attack on Friday on the Iraqi army’s commando brigade in TaMour village of Daquq district, wounding a captain and a civilian. Furthermore, Da’esh terrorist sleeper cells wrote the terror group’s slogan, “The Islamic State Exists”, on walls in two Kurdish neighborhoods in the city. Some Kurdish observers accused non-Kurdish political sides of committing the act, which attracted the attention of the security forces leading to raids in the Kurdish areas. On Monday, the Iraqi troops raided the Kurdish neighborhood of Rahimawa and launched a search. There was no announcement of the results of the security operation.
- On Monday, November 8, two IEDs exploded inside a training camp of the Turkish-backed forces called “Kirkuk Shield” in Taza subdistrict. The incident resulted in the death of two militants and the injury of two more. Kirkuk’s Command Operation said the explosion was not a “terrorist” one but occurred by mistake during training. The interior ministry launched investigations into the types of explosives used in training within the camp by the Turkish proxies.
- On Saturday, November 6, a scout of the Iraqi army raided the home of a known Kurdish activist named Rajab Kakai in the Daquq district. The activist, from the religious minority of Kakai, was taken by the military after a lawsuit by pro-Iranian militias in Mosul’s Hamdania. According to Kakai, Iranian-backed militias attempted to take him in their custody, but public outcry prevented the army from turning him over. However, the militias investigated him for his “constant visits to US and European consulates.” Kakai was freed later and he stated that the lawsuit had been withdrawn.
- Despite completing its structure and renovation, Kirkuk’s “international airport” remains closed and unable to attract any airlines to operate in it. The Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) has permitted the airport to run. However, no airlines other than the Iraqi one is willing to work in Kirkuk due to its security situation. In 2011, Baghdad agreed to reopen Kirkuk’s airport and, yet, it remains closed after a decade and four years of construction.
- As the Kurdish parties prepare to launch negotiations among themselves and the Iraqi parties to form the new government, the Kirkuk governorship and the Presidency will be the top two talking points between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The Turkish-backed Turkmen Front issued a statement rejecting any “talks” over the post of Kirkuk governor if it “excludes” them. The Turkmen-Front said the governorship is not for “Kurds only.”
- As the primary service has deteriorated in the past four years, the waste accumulation across the province has increased dramatically, leading people to protest and use social media platforms to express anger. The head of Kirkuk’s municipalities, Faridon Adel, held a press conference stating that 500 tons of waste are left daily on Kirkuk’s streets since they can only pick 200 out of 700 tons daily. Adel said the cleaning budget had been cut in the municipality for a year and they are operating on their internal income.
- On Sunday, November 7, the Iraqi oil ministry announced a suspension of the provision of 30,000 oil barrels a day to the Bazian refinery to produce kerosene for the government. The ministry said the kerosene production by refineries had reached surplus, and they will stop supplying oil to the Bazian refinery for a month. Bazian has been receiving 30,000 barrels a day to produce kerosene at 10 US dollars per barrel for eight years.
Khanaqin
- The Security Cell announced the killing of four Da’esh terrorists on Friday near Kobashi village north of Jalawla (Golala) after the army’s thermal cameras detected their movement.
- Khanaqin’s Mayor Rebwar Rahman said a delegation of Iraq’s ministry of water resources visited the town and discussed the construction of a new dam on the Alwand river. The city has faced severe water shortage since Iranian dams were built and water was cut off from the town in recent years.
Tuz Khurmatu
- Da’esh terrorists attacked the Peshmerga forces near Kifri last Saturday, but the Peshmerga ministry reported no casualties. On Sunday, November 7, a Da’esh IED near the same area hit a Peshmerga convoy, wounding one member. The IED targeted the forces while they were conducting a security sweep in the area. Further, on Monday November 8, Da’esh terrorists sniped two fishermen in Amerli near the Zarga lake, killing them. Likewise, on Wednesday, Da’esh terrorists attacked the town center of Amerli late-night killing four civilians and two police officers after two hours of clashes.
Makhmour
- The Ministry of Peshmerga announced Peshmerga and Iraqi forces conducted a joint operation near Nineveh in a statement that read, “the operation was carried out with the support of Iraqi air forces and coalition aircraft in the upper Kushafi and Lower Kushafi areas, where the area was completely searched and cleared out of ISIS and terrorist remnants.” The following day, a French military commander, part of the US-led Global Coalition against Da’esh, headed a meeting between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces near Makhmour, discussing further security cooperation.
Shingal (Sinjar)
- A delegation of Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration visited Shingal last Friday to investigate the re-displacement of the Yazidis from the town back to their camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to statistics released by the ministry, hundreds of Yazidi families returned to their displacement camps in a second wave migration after briefly returning to their homes. The Yazidi region continues to suffer under a security, political, and humanitarian crisis.