Jul 5, 2018

Islamic State affiliates have increased their activity in Kirkuk province in northern Iraq and are said to be focused on attacking civilians and government institutions. Authorities believe IS seeks to destabilize security and re-establish itself after being defeated by Iraqi security and international coalition forces.

The group has been operating for months on Kirkuk's outskirts but has stepped up its efforts recently, kidnapping and killing civilians and carrying out random attacks. On June 27, an IS-affiliated group of five used light weapons to attack some villages in the Daqouk district in southern Kirkuk, killing one civilian and wounding others. Also on June 27, five people from the provinces of Anbar and Karbala who were kidnapped while working with security forces in Kirkuk were found executed on the Kirkuk-Baghdad road.

A police officer in Kirkuk spoke to Al-Monitor June 29 on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to make an official statement to the media. He said, “The information we have indicates that some IS affiliates are regrouping in villages in south Kirkuk. The authorities in the province decided to go on maximum alert and start operations to thwart IS plans."

He went on, “Intelligence suggests that IS has already identified the places it wants to target: the vital areas that are crowded with civilians as well as some government institutions whose work is directly linked to the lives of citizens."

Iraqi forces in coordination with Kurdish peshmerga launched a massive military operation on July 4 against IS cells in the area between Kirkuk and Diyala, toward Iraq's border with Iran. IS has been active in the area recently, committing several kidnappings and murders.