Jihadis from Syria blamed for multiple attacks on Iraqi Kurds
An onslaught of attacks on Kurdish peshmerga forces and villages in northern Iraq has sparked concerns over the presence of Islamic State cells and whether they have been bulked up by jihadis arriving from Syria.
BAGHDAD — A recent string of attacks targeting Kurdish forces in northern Iraq in areas disputed between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has raised questions about where the attackers came from and how long they have been in the area.
Local sources have claimed to Al-Monitor that Islamic State (IS) forces operating there now include foreign nationals.
Yet another attack attributed to IS on Dec. 6 targeted Kurdish peshmerga forces in a village in the Makhmour district of Ninevah province in northern Iraq.
Shortly before, the village of Liheban, in neighboring Kirkuk province and with a Kurdish population, had been entirely evacuated by the local inhabitants after IS attacks on it and other locations nearby. A joint operation between peshmerga and Iraqi security forces later reportedly secured the village.
