SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Security forces in the Kurdish city of Sulaimani announced Monday that they had foiled “a major terrorist attempt” to carry out attacks similar to deadly clashes that took place in Kirkuk earlier this month.

Media outlets of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose stronghold is in Sulaimani, said that Asayesh security forces had arrested some 40 “terrorists” in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja and the districts of Raparin and Garmiyan.

The purported foiled attacks were targeted at “government and political institutions” in Sulaimani, according to media outlets close to the PUK. They said that 40 mobile phones which were to be used to detonate explosives were confiscated.

On Oct. 21, ISIS carried out several simultaneous attacks in and around Kirkuk, killing at least 100 people, including civilians and security forces.