Kurdish commander killed in Islamic State attack on Kirkuk

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/30/kurdish-commander-killed-islamic-state-attack-kirkuk

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Islamic State (Isis) fighters have killed a senior Kurdish commander and five other soldiers in a major attack in Kirkuk province, Iraq, an officer and a doctor said.

The Isis assault on areas south and west of the northern city of Kirkuk began at about midnight on Friday, prompting fighting with medium and heavy weapons that was still ongoing in the morning.

Brigadier General Shirko Rauf and five other members of the Kurdish peshmerga forces were killed, while 46 more were wounded, the police officer and a doctor said.

The Kirkuk province security committee announced a curfew on Friday morning, saying it would be in effect until further notice.

Isis has mounted an offensive that has overrun much of Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland since June, presenting both an opportunity for territorial expansion and a threat to the country’s three-province autonomous Kurdish region.

Several Iraqi divisions collapsed in the early days of the offensive, clearing the way for the Kurds to take control of a swathe of disputed northern territory that they have long wanted to incorporate into their region despite Baghdad’s objections.

But after driving south towards Baghdad, Isis turned its attention to the Kurds, pushing them back towards their regional capital, Irbil, in a move that led to US air strikes against the jihadis.

Backed by the air strikes as well as international advisers and trainers, Kurdish forces have clawed back significant ground from Isis.

The conflict is redrawing some of the de facto internal boundaries of Iraq in favour of broader Kurdish control in the north.