Multiple explosions rock disputed province of Kirkuk: source
Kirkuk, a disputed province between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government, has been subject to instability since a military takeover by Iraqi troops and Shia militias in response to the Kurdistan Region’s historic referendum in 2017.
The Kurdish Peshmerga had advanced to protect the area following the 2014 emergence of the so-called Islamic State and did so successfully before they were ousted from the region in October 2017.
In recent days, Kirkuk has seen a rise in insurgent attacks. On Wednesday, a Kurdish youth was killed and several more injured by Islamic State militants in the province’s Daquq district after they tried to extinguish a fire at their wheat fields, local security sources said.
Related Article: ISIS bombing kills 5, injures 10 who were extinguishing fire in disputed Kirkuk
Although Iraq declared the military defeat of the Islamic State in December 2017, the terrorist group continues to carry out insurgency-style attacks in formerly liberated areas, like Mosul, as well as even places it never controlled, like the nation’s capital of Baghdad.
