SAMARA: Suspected Daesh group militants have killed eight people and wounded four others in two attacks in northern Iraq, security officials said Monday.
The extremist group has stepped up its attacks since the release of a purported new audio message late last month from Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
On Monday “seven civilians were killed when jihadists fired on houses in the village of Albu Shaher,” 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city north of Baghdad, a security services official told AFP.
A police officer was wounded in that attack, which also saw militants raid a currency exchange office and steal $20,000 (17,225 euros) before fleeing, he added.
Late on Sunday, a man was shot dead and three others were wounded outside a mosque north of Baghdad.
The attack took place in the village of Khanouka near Ash-Sharqat, one of the last areas retaken by government forces from Daesh last year, 100 kilometers north of the capital, a police officer said.
“The man, aged 80, had just finished praying (and was leaving the mosque) when the jihadists opened fire at him,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either of the attacks.
According to the police officer, Daesh holdouts are still present in the hills of Khanouka and other mountainous and desert regions of Iraq.
Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi declared “victory” in December in the fight against Daesh, which seized nearly a third of the country in 2014.
But sleeper cells continue to launch attacks from sparsely populated areas.
According to Hisham Al-Hashemi, an expert on radical Islamist groups, about 2,000 Daesh militants are still active in Iraq.
The elusive leader of the Daesh group, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, called on Muslims to wage “jihad” in a purported new audio recording released on August 22.
Eight civilians killed in Iraq in suspected Daesh attacks
Eight civilians killed in Iraq in suspected Daesh attacks
- The extremist group has stepped up its attacks since the release of a purported new audio message by Baghdadi
Kurds in Turkiye protest over Syria Aleppo offensive
- Several hundred people gathered in Diyarbakir while hundreds more joined a protest in Istanbul
- In the capital, Ankara, DEM lawmakers protested in front of the Turkish parliament
DIYARBAKIR, Turkiye: Protesters rallied for a second day in Turkiye’s main cities on Thursday to demand an end to a deadly Syrian army offensive against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said.
Several hundred people gathered in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkiye’s main Kurdish-majority city, while hundreds more joined a protest in Istanbul that was roughly broken up by riot police who arrested around 25 people, the pro-Kurdish DEM party said.
In the capital, Ankara, DEM lawmakers protested in front of the Turkish parliament, denouncing the targeting of Kurds in Aleppo as a crime against humanity.
The protesters demanded an end to the operation by Syrian government forces against the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in three days of violent clashes.
It was the worst violence in the northwestern city since Syria’s Islamist authorities took power a year ago. The fighting erupted as both sides struggled to implement a March agreement to integrate autonomous Kurdish institutions into the new Syrian state.
In Istanbul, hundreds of protesters waving flags braved heavy rain near Galata Tower to denounce the Aleppo operation under the watchful eye of hundreds of riot police, an AFP correspondent said.
But some of the slogans drew a sharp warning from the police, who moved to roughly break up the gathering and arrested some 25 people, DEM’s Istanbul branch said.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the police attack on the Rojava solidarity action in Sishane. This brutal intervention, oppression, and violence against our young comrades is unacceptable!” the party wrote on X, demanding the immediate release of those arrested.
At the Diyarbakir protest during the afternoon, protesters carried a huge portrait of the jailed PKK militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, an AFP video journalist reported.
“We urge states to act as they did for the Palestinian people, for our Kurdish brothers who are suffering oppression and hardship,” Zeki Alacabey, 64, told AFP in Diyarbakir.
Although Turkiye has embarked on a peace process with the PKK, it remains hostile to the SDF, which controls swathes of northeastern Syria, seeing it as an extension of the banned militant group and a major threat along its southern border.
It has repeatedly demanded that the SDF merge into the main Syrian military. A defense ministry official said on Thursday that Ankara was ready to “support” Syria’s operation against the Kurdish fighters if needed.
Demonstrators had already taken to the streets in several major Turkish cities with Kurdish majorities on Wednesday, including Diyarbakir and Van, according to images broadcast by the DEM.
