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Third Islamic State attack in three days hits northern Iraq

The Kurdistan Region’s peshmerga forces suffer another attacked by Islamic State fighters.

Kurdish refugees
Volunteers distribute food to Syrians who have been recently turned refugees upon arriving at the Bardarash camp, near the Kurdish city of Dohuk, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, on Oct. 20, 2019. — SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

The Islamic State (IS) attacked Kurdistan Region security forces in northern Iraq again today. 

The assault occurred north of Kifri in the Diyala province. There were casualties among the Kurdistan Region’s peshmerga forces, the Erbil-based news outlet Kurdistan 24 reported. 

The attack was the third in as many days by IS against the peshmerga, who are the official military force of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). On Nov. 27, an IS bomb hit a peshmerga vehicle, also in the Diyala province, killing five and injuring four, the KRG said in a press release. Peshmerga forces repelled an attack in the same area yesterday, according to Kurdistan 24. 

Iraqi and Kurdistan Region forces defeated the Islamic State in 2017 with the help of the US-led military coalition, but IS continues to conduct small-scale attacks in the country. IS has been particularly active in the territories disputed between the KRG and the federal government. Kifri is one of these disputed areas. 

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