Kurdish commander dies in Kirkuk battle

ISIL kills senior Kurdish military commander and eight Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, as attacks elsewhere kill 27.

 

The Kurds want to incorporate Kirkuk into their self-ruled region in northern Iraq

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has killed a senior Kurdish military commander and eight Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, officials say.
Brigadier General Shirko Fatih was killed on Friday as he was leading Kurdish peshmerga troops in a battle against ISIL outside the city of Kirkuk.
At least eight Kurdish fighters were also killed in the clashes, Brigadier Khatab Omar said.
The casualties near oil-rich Kirkuk are a heavy setback for the Iraqi Kurds, who have been at the forefront of the battle against ISIL, which has captured a third of both Iraq and Syria in its blitz last year.
Home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, the Kurds want to incorporate Kirkuk into their self-ruled region in Iraq's north, a proposition strongly opposed by Arabs and Turkmen.
Twin bombings
Attacks elsewhere killed 27 people, with twin bombs hitting a crowded market in Baghdad and a suicide bomber targeting pro-government Shia militiamen who were manning a checkpoint outside a city north of the Iraqi capital.
In the Baghdad market attack, a bomb first exploded near carts used for selling clothes in the central Bab al-Sharqi area, followed by a second bomb as people rushed to help victims from the first blast.
Police and hospital officials said 19 people were killed and 28 were wounded.
Also in Baghdad, mortar shells landed on a residential area in the Shula neighborhood, killing four people and wounding seven others, police and hospital officials said.
Meanwhile a suicide bomber drove an-explosive-laden car into a security checkpoint manned by Shia militias near the city of Samarra, killing four militiamen and wounding 10.
The casualties come as Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of US troops.
ISIL controls about a third of the country, including the north's biggest city Mosul, as well as large areas of neighbouring Syria.