At least 24 killed in multiple IS attacks in Iraq's Kirkuk
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E-mail Xinhua, October 21, 2016
At least 24 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in multiple attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants on police compound and other government buildings in the Iraqi northern city of Kirkuk, a local police said.
The attack occurred early in the morning when dozens of IS militants, many wearing explosive vests, attacked the police compound, a building of Kurdish security, known as Asaysh, and some government buildings and mosques inside the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
After fierce clashes with the guards of the security buildings, the attackers and suicide bombers seized several buildings, including a police headquarters, Kurdish Asaysh, a mosque and a house, the source said without knowing whether the attackers held some hostages.
The Kurdish security forces backed by reinforcement Kurdish troops from the neighboring Kurdish provinces of Sulaimaniyah and Arbil, deployed in the city and surrounded the IS-held buildings inside the city, while clashes continued with the attackers in the following hours of the day, the source said.
The toll of the clashes could rise as the security forces are still fighting the attackers who holed up in the buildings across the city, the source said.
Authorities in the city imposed curfew and blocked the entrances of the city, as dozens of police and Kurdish security forces deployed outside the government buildings and main streets, the source said.
Another attack targeted al-Debis power plant, some 35 km northeast of Kirkuk, when two suicide bombers entered the station sparking heavy clash with the guards, but the attacker took control of part of the facility and executed 16 workers, including four Iranians, the source said.
The Iranian victims were technicians of the Iranian Sunir company, which has been implementing a contract of expanding the power plant with the German Siemens company.
Later in the day, the security forces killed the suicide bombers and the situation in the plant is under control, the source added.
The attack came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in and around the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
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