| Sunday 22nd December, 2024. A mass grave containing the remains of dozens of Kurdish women and children killed during former dictator Saddam Hussein's rule was unearthed in a remote desert in Iraq's southern province of Muthanna after recently being found through satellite images. The mass grave is in the Tal Sheikh area of Samawah, located 130 kilometers from the provincial capital. It was discovered in May through satellite images. Human skulls, pairs of shoes and traditional Kurdish clothes were among remains unearthed on the first day of exhumation. It is not clear how many people are buried in the mass grave but they are estimated to be nearly 150 Kurdish women and children. |
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| Tuesday 17th December, 2024. In a potent display of cultural strength, Kurdish schools in Kirkuk celebrated Kurdistan Flag Day, prevailing over past difficulties in national expression. The importance of December 17th goes back to 1945 when the Kurdish flag was first raised over the institutions of the Kurdistan Republic in Mahabad. This date signifies a profound moment of national identity and ambition. The flag's rich symbolism continues to resonate: red represents revolution and courage, yellow signifies light and vigilance, white symbolizes peace, and green represents homeland and youth. |
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| Sunday 8th December, 2024. The family of Issa Abdulla, a Peshmerga fighter who has been missing since 2014, has appealed to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for assistance after learning that his name may appear on a detainee list from a Syrian prison. Relatives said that Abdullah disappeared during the initial ISIS onslaught in 2014 while stationed on the Zummar front in Nineveh province. For nearly a decade, his fate has remained unknown. The family stated that they received information last night suggesting Abdullah's name was among those of prisoners in Syria. They are now urging the KRG to intervene and help determine if Abdulla is alive and to facilitate his return if confirmed. |
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| Sunday 1st December, 2024. The United States Ambassador to Iraq says the failure to implement the Sinjar agreement is a matter of concern and the Islamic State in Iraq and in Syria ISIS still poses a threat. Ambassador Alina Romanowski said this during a press conference held at the US Consulate General in Erbil on Saturday November 30th, 2024. The press conference coincided with the completion of her mission as US Ambassador to Iraq. “Pleased to participate in an interview with IKR (Iraqi Kurdistan Region) media outlets to discuss U.S. priorities for strengthening our bilateral relationship with Iraq,” she posted on X platform. “Proud to support the role of a free and independent press in the IKR and encourage full implementation of the IKR press law and access to information law.” |
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| Saturday 30th November, 2024. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are to meet in Sulaimani to discuss the formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) tenth cabinet among other pressing matters. The meeting brings together the KDP delegation, consisting of Hoshyar Zebari, Pshtiwan Sadiq, Dilshad Shahab, and Omed Sabah, with the PUK delegation, comprised of Qubad Talabani, Rewas Fayaq, Rizgari Haji Hama, Salar Sarhed, and Samir Hawrami. Traditionally, the KDP and PUK have been the region's two main political parties, playing a pivotal role in forming coalition governments. Their cooperation is essential for political stability in the Kurdistan Region, particularly given their traditional strongholds in Erbil and Sulaimani respectively. |
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| Sunday 17th November, 2024. A bomb explosion in Tuz Khurmatu killed two Peshmerga commanders and a guard, and wounded three other guards, according to Peshmerga sources. The blast occurred at 9:00 a.m. in the Ghara-e Khurmatu area, targeting a joint force of the 1st Brigade of the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army. The bomb, believed to have been planted by Islamic State (IS) militants, detonated inside a Peshmerga compound. The explosion claimed the lives of Colonel Saman Saber Suleiman, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 20th Brigade, Colonel Mohammed, an engineering officer, and a guard. Three Iraqi army soldiers sustained injuries and were transported to a hospital in Tuz Khurmatu along with the bodies of the martyrs. |
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| Wednesday 6th November, 2024. The Iraqi Council of Ministers has decided to conduct a joint team of all ethnicities to conduct November 20 census in the disputed territories, a presidential advisor said. The KRG has repeatedly shown its concerns and fear of using the census within the framework of implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which deals with the determination of ownership of the disputed territories, states that a general census should be conducted in the second phase before the third and final phase of the referendum to resolve the issue. However, the first phase of the article, compensation and normalization, has not yet been completed, although all three phases should have been completed by the end of 2007. |
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| Monday 28th October, 2024. Civilian buildings in the village of Goharzi in the Amedi (Amêdî) district of Duhok (Dihok) were shelled by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF). Two houses were damaged as a result of the attack. Following the shelling, three children were transported to Amedi hospital in shock. According to Kamaran Osman, a member of the international organisation Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), the shelling came from a nearby military base set up by the TAF. Dozens of such bases have been built by Turkey since 2021 to ensure its own military presence in the area of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a report by the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) earlier this year. Since the beginning of the year residents of Goharzi village have been shelled by the TAF at least 12 times. |
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| Wednesday 16th October, 2024. Following a fiery speech by Bafel Talabani in Duhok (Dihok), where he accused the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of selling Kurdish land to Turkey, clashes erupted between supporters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and KDP in Erbil (Hewlêr). The violence occurred outside the residence of former Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Kosrat Rasul Ali of the PUK, escalating fears of election-related unrest. Medya News sources confirmed that local media outlets in Iraqi Kurdistan avoided covering the clashes, aiming to prevent further escalation of electoral tensions. This follows Talabani's provocative remarks in Duhok, where he accused the KDP of acting as a “mercenary” for Turkey and blocking Kurdish unity in Kurdish-majority regions of Turkey (Bakur) and North and East Syria (Rojava). |
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| Thursday 3rd October, 2024. A Kurdish Yezidi girl, who was kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) during the occupation of Sinjar in 2014, has been rescued in Gaza after over a decade of captivity. Fawzia Amin Saydo, born in 2003, was taken by the Islamic State when it overran Sinjar. Her fate remained unknown until recently, when a joint Israeli-US operation led to her rescue. According to a source, she had been held by an IS militant from the Gaza Strip, who was killed during the operation. The militant's mother had taken Fawzia to Gaza, where she had been living for the past four years. |
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| Thursday 26th September, 2024. İsmail Hakkı Pekin, former head of the General Staff Intelligence Department, made controversial remarks suggesting the assassination of Bafel Talabani, president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), during a live programme on the Turkish news channel Habertürk on 21st September. Pekin referred to a recent agreement between the Iraqi central government and Turkey on operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and suggested that similar measures should be taken in Syria. In his remarks, Pekin said: “The agreement Turkey has reached with Iraq is very important. We need to do the same on this side (Syria). If Bafel Talabani does something, eliminate him. If necessary, assassinate him.” After a warning from the studio, Pekin corrected himself, saying: “You don't do it, you get someone else to do it.” |
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| Monday 23rd September, 2024. A UN delegation informed the Peshmerga Minister that despite the region moving toward a complicated and unstable situation, the Peshmerga has been able to maintain stability and peace in Iraq, particularly in the Kurdistan Region. Shoresh Ismail, Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga Minister, met with a high-level UN delegation led by William Blanchard, Director of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). The meeting, which was attended by advisors and senior officers of the Ministry of Peshmerga, covered the security situation in the region, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region. The Peshmerga Minister praised the role of the United Nations in maintaining peace. |
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| Wednesday 11th September, 2024. The Independent Commission for Human Rights has condemned the kidnapping of four children from a family in the Sharia camp in Duhok province and called for urgent security and legal measures. The ICHR released a statement reporting that unknown gunmen abducted the children from the camp. The children are from a family displaced from Sinjar and currently residing in a village near Koya district. The kidnappers, described as armed men, reportedly demanded money and documents for the children's release. |
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| Thursday 5th September, 2024. A drone strike in Sulaymaniyah's Sharbazher district killed three people, marking the second such incident in the province within 24 hours. The drone targeted a vehicle in the Zalan area, and initial reports suggest one of the victims was a child with a medical cannula in his hand. This follows a similar attack on Wednesday in Khalakan district, where three civilians, Muzaffar Hussain and his two sons, Mohammad and Mubin Muzaffar, were killed when an unidentified drone hit their vehicle. The family was from Hajiawa district in the Raparin administration. Though no group or nation has claimed responsibility, suspicion falls on Turkey, which regularly carries out drone strikes in the Kurdistan Region. |
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| Sunday 25th August, 2024. A large force of Hashd al-Shaabi militias advanced into the Kulajo district of Garmian Administration, briefly taking control of a significant area. However, the militias were forced to retreat under pressure from Peshmerga forces, who surrounded them and blocked their entry. According to information obtained by BasNews, the Hashd al-Shaabi militias claimed they had entered the area based on an agreement with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Despite this claim, the Peshmerga Ministry deemed their advance illegal, as it was carried out without coordination with the Peshmerga and was outside the scope of any formal agreements. |
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| Friday 23rd August, 2024. Two female journalists were killed when their car was attacked by a bomb-laden drone in Sulaimaniyah northern province. The security agencies of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have not yet officially confirmed who was behind the attack, but several media outlets claim that it was a Turkish drone. Hero Bahadin had been working for Sterk TV and Chatra for six years. She was from the Sangaw sub-district in Sulaimani province and held a degree in civil engineering. Gulistan Tara, who had been with Chatra for three years, was from North Kurdistan (Turkey). Rebin Bakr was also injured and is in stable condition. |
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| Saturday 10th August, 2024. Rebwar Taha, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was elected by the Kirkuk Provincial Council as the new governor of Kirkuk, amid significant controversy, with several key political groups boycotting the session. The council meeting, attended by nine out of its 16 members, saw the participation of all five PUK members, three Arab members, and the representative holding the Christian minority quota. However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Turkmen members did not attend, casting doubt on the broad acceptance of the new leadership. |
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| Saturday 3rd August, 2024. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani commemorated the tenth year since the horrific massacre of Yezidi people by the Islamic State. He reiterated calls for the implementation of the Sinjar agreement and mentioned that the presence of unlawful militia groups in the area has prevented the situation from returning to normal. In a statement, Prime Minister Barzani reflected on the tragedy, noting that it marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre of the Yezidis, where thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands went missing as a result of the brutal attacks by IS militants. |
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| Thursday 18th July, 2024. At least one civilian was killed and another was injured on Thursday as a result of a Turkish bombardment in Shiladze town of Duhok province. The incident took place early morning of Thursday. The deceased was identified as Osman Roshdi, 32, a married man with no children, who was reportedly a beekeeper in the area. Turkey has lately intensified its operations against the PKK in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region, especially in Duhok, where more than 100 villages have already been evacuated due to the armed confrontations. |
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| Sunday 14th July, 2024. Clashes erupted on Sunday morning between Kurdish security forces and Islamic State (IS) insurgents in Qarahanjir subdistrict, in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk, resulting in casualties. According to information obtained by BasNews, two IS extremists attacked a market in Qarahanjir, then fled and engaged in a firefight with security forces at a nearby school. One IS insurgent was killed, and the other was wounded. At least one security member, identified as Jawamer Aziz Rashid, was also killed, and another was wounded. |
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| Tuesday 9th July, 2024. The mayor of Zakho has reported that ongoing clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish forces have led to the evacuation of about 50 villages within the Zakho Autonomous Administration. Mayor Mushir Bashir warned that if the situation persists, more residents will be forced to leave their homes. USA State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller acknowledged the threats posed by the PKK along the Kurdistan Region-Turkey border. However, he emphasized that Turkish operations must be coordinated with Iraq. |
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| Monday 1st July, 2024. Turkey's de facto occupation of large swathes of Iraqi Kurdistan has been exposed in reporting by Voice of America (VoA), as a campaign against the occupation and protests from political parties gets underway. However, the region's dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has failed to take a position against the instillation of Turkish military checkpoints in the region, prompting widespread condemnation. Only VoA, a US government-funded outlet, has been able to gain access to the rural regions affected by the de facto Turkish occupation. |
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| Thursday 20th June, 2024. Two migrant boats departing from the Turkish coast and North Africa have capsized near Italy, leading to significant loss of life. The tragedy has particularly affected Kurdish communities from the KRI, with 19 confirmed dead. The victims include eight individuals from Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî) and 11 from Erbil (Hewlêr). The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has dispatched a special team to Italy to oversee the rescue mission following the sinking of a migrant boats, as many of the victims are Kurds. |
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| Sunday 16th June, 2024. A bomb exploded in a marketplace in the disputed Kurdish district of Tuz Khurmatu on Saturday night, injuring three people and causing extensive damage to cars and shops. The explosive device had been placed in a garbage container in the district's Grand Bazaar. The explosion occurred around 10 p.m. while people were shopping for the upcoming holidays. The crime investigation teams and police quickly arrived at the scene. Despite the large security presence in Tuz Khurmatu Bazaar, no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. |
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| Tuesday 4th June, 2024. Tawaf Dawood Cheto, a Kurdish Yezidi girl kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) fighters in Sinjar in 2014 has been rescued and is expected to be returned and reunited with her family. According to the head of the Special Office for Yezidi Abductees Affairs, 3,576 Yezidi Kurds have been rescued so far. In the 2014 attack on Sinjar, IS militants massacred at least 5,000 Yezidis and the enslavement of over 6,000 women and minors. Furthermore, it displaced approximately 400,000 people. |
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| Monday 3rd June, 2024. As fears grow of an imminent full-scale cross-border invasion by Turkish forces, residents continue to face the threat of village evacuation. Kamran Osman, head of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Human Rights Division, stated that 161 villages were completely evacuated in recent years, with over 602 villages under threat due to Turkish bases and attacks, according to VoA Kurdish. Ongoing Turkish attacks in recent months have led to the evacuation of a further 10 villages and numerous civilian casualties. |
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| Monday 20th May, 2024. After the arrest of journalist Shakar Abdulsattar by PUK security forces in Sulaimaniyah, a wave of protests and criticism has been directed towards Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) authorities regarding their actions against local journalists. A colleague of Shakar Abdulstar rejected the authorities' allegations that Abdulstar had made false and misleading reports for an unofficial page. The colleague emphasized that Tiwar Media Agency is officially licensed by the Journalist Syndicate and the Kurdistan Regional Government, countering the claims made by Sulaymaniyah authorities as false and defamatory. |
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| Wednesday 8th May, 2024. The Peshmerga forces successfully defused three explosive devices planted by the Islamic State (IS) in the Chamchamall district of Sulaymaniyah province. The operation was carried out by the 16th Infantry Brigade of the Peshmerga Ministry, with support from the engineering team of the Kurdistan Commando Command. The operation took place near the village of Qushalani in the Qadir Karam subdistrict. The Islamic State's presence in Iraq, dating back to 2014, has left a legacy of devastation, including the planting of thousands of bombs across the country. |
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| Wednesday 1st May, 2024. The Iraqi army has imposed restrictions on Kurdish farmers from harvesting wheat and barley in several disputed villages, including Palkana and Sargaran areas of Kirkuk province. The Iraqi army's directive prohibiting farmers from harvesting their crops has incited frustration among Kurdish farmers, prompting protests against the decision. Demonstrators congregated along the main road connecting Kirkuk and Erbil to voice their discontent, threatening further action if the obstacles persist. A number of Kurdish farmers have been arrested. Tensions between Kurdish farmers and the Iraqi army have been exacerbated since the events of October 16th, 2017. |
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| Friday 19th April, 2024. In the Sidkan district, a tragic incident unfolded last night as Sarwar Qadir, a 46-year-old married Peshmerga, lost his life in a bombing of Nawdarok village conducted by Turkey. The ongoing conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) continues to disrupt daily life in Kurdistan, with civilian casualties mounting and villages being evacuated due to continuous clashes and bombings. |
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| Sunday 14th April, 2024. A Turkish aerial strike killed a farmer in the village of Gallale, in the Sulaymaniyah governate, last night. Gallale is part of the Şarbajêr (Sharbazher) district. The farmer, named Muhammed Saîd, was from Suleimaniyah but had reportedly come to the village for work. Turkish warplanes also bombed the villages of Guherze and Bilava in the Amediye district of Duhok. Turkish forces struck the region 358 times between 1st January and 1st April. Iranian state forces carried out a further 15 strikes during the same period. |
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| Monday 1st April, 2024. A drone strike targeting the center of Kifri district in Garmiyn, resulted in the death of the leader of the Turkmen Bayat tribe. The strike occurred at around 3:10 p.m. near the local market, leaving tribal leader Hussein Alush killed. The identity of those responsible for the attack remains undisclosed at this time. Turkmen, constituting the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq, account for an estimated 8% of the population in the Kurdistan Region. Predominantly Sunni Muslims, they communicate in a language reminiscent of archaic Turkic linguistics, although bearing similarity to modern Turkish. |
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| Saturday 16th March, 2024. On 16th March 1988, Saddam Hussein's regime unleashed a brutal chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, leaving an indelible mark on the conscience of humanity. The horrific attack, which used chemical weapons including sarin, VX and mustard gas, targeted civilians indiscriminately and resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 men, women and children. Thousands more suffered debilitating injuries, and survivors have been left with lifelong health complications and psychological trauma. |
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| Sunday 10th March, 2024. The Baghdad-appointed governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jabouri, has stirred debate with his latest decision aimed at solidifying the Arabization process in the disputed Kurdish province. In letter No. 734 dated March 5, 2024, the governor emphasized that residents of Kirkuk, regardless of their origins, should be regarded as native inhabitants of the province. This directive, according to Jabouri, aligns with the Iraqi government's agenda and a recent meeting held at the Kirkuk governor's office to address refugee affairs. The move sparked controversy as it grants legitimacy to non-indigenous Arabs who were resettled in Kurdish areas of Kirkuk, effectively categorizing them as indigenous residents. |
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| Friday 8th March, 2024. An improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the northeastern of the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk claimed the life of one person and injured another. The victims, identified as Aziz Shahaza Issa and his son Mustafa, were targeted while gathering herbs in the Jawal Bor area. According to Kirkuk police, the IED was likely planted by Islamic State (IS) militants. |
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| Sunday 3rd March, 2024. Tensions flared in Kirkuk's Kurdish neighbourhood of Panja Ali as a series of shop demolitions, reportedly directed by the Baghdad-appointed governor Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri, ignited protests among local shopkeepers. The move is believed to be part of an initiative by the imposed administration of Kirkuk to allocate the shop premises to an Arab businessman from Anbar province for investment purposes. Angered by the demolitions, shopkeepers took to the streets in protest during the afternoon, blocking the main road between Kirkuk and Laylan to voice their opposition to the decision imposed by the local administration. |
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| Tuesday 20th February, 2024. A Turkish airstrike killed two villagers near Akre in Duhok province as they were tending to their farms. The strike targeted the abandoned Kafia village in Akre district, hitting four villagers who were tending to their farms in the vicinity of the area and killing two, their families said. The victims, identified as Arif Taha (61) and Bashir Omer (68), were reportedly both retired members of the Peshmerga, the region's security forces. |
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| Wednesday 14th February, 2024. The Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Peshmerga has announced that it conducted a joint operation with the Iraqi army in the Shuan district of Kirkuk province. Led by the 11th Infantry Brigade of the Peshmerga Ministry in tandem with the 31st Brigade of the Iraqi army, the operation targeted suspected Islamic State (IS) strongholds across several villages. The Ministry added that the operation lasted approximately eight hours, and the aim was to eradicate IS in suspected areas. |
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| Sunday 4th February, 2024. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) reached an agreement to elect a Kurdish candidate for the governor of Kirkuk, while also committing to enhancing efforts to defend and uphold the constitutional status of the Kurdistan Region. Additionally, they agreed to collaborate at a high level to address political and economic challenges with the federal government, with a focus on improving livelihoods, services, budget allocations, and employee salaries. |
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| Monday 22nd January, 2024. An Iranian ballistic missile attack struck a home in Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, killing four civilians and injuring six others. Hours later, missile defense systems intercepted three drones fired by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeting the Erbil International Airport area, which houses US military forces, resulting in the temporary suspension of air traffic. "Regardless of Iranian claims about the attack, these killings follow a long history of Revolutionary Guard assassinations in residential areas of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that have targeted civilians" said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Impunity for Iran's killings of civilians will only embolden more unlawful attacks in the future." |
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| Thursday 18th January, 2024. A woman politician was murdered by two attackers on motorbikes in front of Sêgirme Secondary and High School in the Rahimawa neighbourhood of Kirkuk today. The identity of the female politician who was shot eight times with a silenced pistol was announced as Firyal Silêman Xalid from the city of Hesekê in Northern Syria (Rojava). Xalid born in 1975, also recognised by her nom de guerre Zelal Zagros, had dedicated 31 years to the struggle for the freedom of Kurdish women and the broader Kurdish community across the Middle East. |
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| Monday 8th January, 2024. An unidentified assailant yesterday evening opened fire near a tent set up by Kurdish residents of a Kirkuk neighborhood who have been protesting an Iraqi army attempt to seize their homes. No injuries were reported. Security footage shows a group of the protesters sitting outside the tent, guarded by a police vehicle and armed officers. They are seen running away in a panic after the assailant fired in their direction. |
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| Friday 5th January, 2024. The Iraqi Army evacuated the houses of 7 Kurdish citizens in Kirkuk's Newroz neighbourhood by force of arms and attempted to settle 7 Arab families in their houses yesterday evening. After the citizens reacted against the occupation, many of them were taken into custody. Houses in the Newroz neighbourhood, which consists entirely of Kurdish citizens, are registered to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, which continues to Arabise the neighbourhood. |
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| Thursday 28th December, 2023. Two unidentified assailants shot and killed a police officer in a Kirkuk bazar on today, injuring at least two other bystanders. Police spokesperson said the attack was carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS). The murdered officer has been identified as Shwana Tahir, a Kurdish civil police member. |
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| Wednesday 27th December, 2023. A Pentagon official confirmed that a one way drone attack was launched against US and Coalition forces at Erbil Air Base without causing any damage. The Directorate General of Counter-Terrorism (CTD) also said a drone was shot down by the US-led coalition near the Ashokan village in the Baherke district also without causing any damage. The attacks have been claimed by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq in revenge for US support for Israel during the ongoing conflict in Gaza. |
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| Friday 22nd December, 2023. While supporters of the two main Kurdish political parties were celebrating in Kirkuk and other disputed territories, the results of counting and sorting votes for the provincial council elections showed that the number of Kurdish seats was declining. Kurdish party lists and alliances in Kirkuk won seven seats out of 15 seats in the provincial council, in addition to the Christian quota seat, equivalent to 47 percent of the council seats, while the previous percentage was 63 percent. The Kurds in Diyala their number has decreased by half, with all their lists and candidates, they only won a single seat in the provincial council. |
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| Tuesday 5th December, 2023. Turkish fighter jets bombed the Bamarne subdistrict near Amedi district in Duhok province, killing one civilian and injuring three others, according to preliminary reports. The bombing happened early in the morning around 7am. The injured have now been transported to Duhok hospitals for medical treatment. |
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| Saturday 18th November, 2023. Military bases of the United States and the Global Coalition against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria have been targeted in a series of recent drone attacks. The Pentagon has confirmed that at least 24 US service members have suffered injuries in these attacks, attributing them to "Iranian-backed militia groups." The attacks came against a backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently warned "Iran-backed militia groups" against launching or supporting attacks on US and coalition bases in the Middle East. |
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| Monday 6th November, 2023. Four people were killed in Shingal (Sinjar) district within 10 days without any main accused being arrested, despite the presence of eight security and military forces in the region. The latest murder occurred on November 2nd in the center of Sinjar district, home to the Ezidi (Yazidi) community, where a young man was shot and died instantly. Late on the night of October 24, three people from one family, a six-year-old child, his his father (Rashid Bisso, 40 years old), and his step-mother were killed in the Ain al-Ghazal area. There are more than eight armed forces in the disputed district of Sinjar, which has a Yazidi majority. |
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| Sunday 5th November, 2023. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is set to open one of its branches in the disputed Kurdish city of Kirkuk today. The KDP left Kirkuk after the province was captured by the pro-Iran Hashd al-Shaabi militias in October 2017. The return of the party to the city is widely described as a significant morale boost for local Kurdish populations ahead of the country's provincial elections in November. |
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| Sunday 22nd October, 2023. Clashes broke out between Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army in Makhmur over military outposts recently abandoned by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Qarachugh mountain. Taking a few hours, the fighting was quickly subdued following the swift involvement of both Erbil and Baghdad officials. Both sides sustained injuries and fatalities with four members of the Peshmerga forces killed as a result of the skirmish. |
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| Sunday 8th October, 2023. The federal Iraqi army overnight raided the village of Palkana in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk, where they have reportedly damaged some farming equipment belonging to Kurdish farmers. These forces are continuing to prevent farming and agriculture in the villages of Palkana, Shanagha, Sarbashakh, Gabalaka, and Kharaba in Kirkuk province. A force from Iraqi army has been stationed on agricultural lands in these villages, where they arrest anyone who engages in farming and agriculture. |
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| Tuesday 3rd October, 2023. Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region. Several doors and windows were shattered in a house located in the village of Endzey and sources say the villages of Bokriskan, Zargali, Ghala and Baski Qale were also targeted, the extent of possible casualties remains unknown. |
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| Monday 18th September, 2023. Three members of an anti-terror unit affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were killed, and three others wounded, in a drone strike allegedly carried out by Turkey on the agricultural airport of Arbat in Sulaymaniyah. Iraq's top military spokesperson, Yehia Rasool called the attack a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) stated "Attacks repeatedly violating Iraqi sovereignty must stop. Security concerns must be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy - not strikes." |
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| Sunday 10th September, 2023. The residents of Topzawa village insist on opposing the Iraqi army's efforts to repair an old military base in the area, which is considered by citizens to be one of the "symbols and memories of the Kurdish genocide and Anfal campaigns." For several weeks, a number of residents of Topzawa in Yaychi sub-district (northwest of Kirkuk) have set up tents to protest against the presence of army forces in the area. Since last month, the army has entered the village several times to prepare for the renovation of the military base, but has been prevented. |
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| Sunday 3rd September, 2023. Yesterday, four Kurds were killed by Iraqi Forces and over a dozen wounded, during counter-protests in the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, after days of tensions following the closure of the main Kirkuk-Erbil highway by Arabs and Turkmen in protest to the return of a building to the KDP. A curfew is now imposed and Iraq's counter-terrorism Unit have arrested more than 40 Kurdish citizens including journalists. |
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| Tuesday 29th August, 2023. Iraqi forces conducted a raid in Palkana village, in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk, exacerbating tensions in the region. This event followed a similar incident that occurred just hours earlier in Topzawa village within the same province. Damage was caused to irrigation supplies and pipes. Villagers have been instructed not to cultivate any crops. |
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| Monday 7th August, 2023. A Turkish airstrike conducted yesterday led to the tragic death of a civilian and left another seriously injured in Duhok province. The incident occurred in Chamanke sub-district, where a Turkish warplane targeted a civilian vehicle carrying two individuals. The attack resulted in the immediate death of Alan Ismail, a 24-year-old who had recently married, and caused severe injuries to the other person.. |
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| Wednesday 23rd July, 2023. The army forces stormed the village of Shinagha and discouraged the Kurdish farmers from continuing their agricultural activities in the area, Mohammed Ismail, a representative of the farmers in Sargaran said. The farmers have been facing repeated obstructions from non-indigenous Arabs during the spring season, leading to disruptions in the harvesting process and irrigation. |
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| Tuesday 4th July, 2023. Nearly 700,000 tourists visited tourist spots in the Kurdistan Region during the recent holiday, Eid al-Adha, according to the government's latest figures. The Tourism Board of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reported at least 689,889 tourists to have visited tourist destinations in the Kurdistan Region during the past week alone. These tourists were from the Kurdistan Region, southern and central Iraqi provinces, and abroad. |
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| Sunday 25th June, 2023. Kurdish and Turkmen farmers in several villages of the disputed Kirkuk province have staged a 26-day strike, protesting against the occupation of their lands by the Iraqi army and non-indigenous Arabs, demanding unrestricted access to their agricultural fields. At a press conference held in Tobzawa village, Kurdish and Turkmen farmers, with the support of genocide organizations, voiced their grievances regarding the occupation of their land. |
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| Sunday 11th June, 2023. At least two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others injured after Islamic State (IS) jihadists attacked a military outpost in the town of Dibis in Kirkuk province. The remaining members of the Islamic State primarily seek shelter in caves, bushes, and marshes. They tend to stay in rural areas or on the outskirts of cities, particularly in disputed territories that pose security challenges for both Erbil and Baghdad. It is reported that Islamic State militants are particularly active at night, carrying out raids on people's residences and abducting civilians in remote regions. |
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| Monday 29th May, 2023. The Iraqi army prevented local farmers from harvesting wheat in the village of Tobzawa in the disputed Kirkuk province, as reported by Kurdistan 24. According to the farmers, the army in the region confiscated a harvester machine and arrested the driver. There have recently been instances of security forces in Kirkuk infringing on the rights of Kurdish farmers in the surrounding villages. Arab settlers, who base their claims on land contracts issued during Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime, assert ownership of Kurdish farming land. |
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| Tuesday 9th May, 2023. Sinjar officials have discovered another mass grave in downtown Sinjar, which contains remains of some Yezidi people previously murdered by Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Authorities have so far found 90 Yezidi mass graves, of which 40 have been unearthed containing remains of at least 150 Yezidi people, according to Kurdistan 24. This is in addition to the remains of 500 bodies already sent to Baghdad Forensic Department for identification purposes. |
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| Saturday 29th April, 2023. The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group overnight reportedly kidnapped two locals near the town of Gwer. One of them was found dead this morning. The two individuals were fishing in a nearby lake when the jihadist group abducted them yesterday. They had left one alive, with his legs and hands tied, and killed the second one, who was reportedly in the Iraqi army. His body is due to arrive in Erbil forensic department for examination today. |
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| Monday 17th April, 2023. The armed men raided the house of a 26-year-old Kurdish citizen in the Shahal village of Sargaran town in western Kirkuk and kidnapped him. Mawloud, the victim, had no prior conflicts with anyone and had previously been wounded while fighting against the Islamic State (IS) in defense of his village. His family has appealed to Shakhawan Abdullah, the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, for assistance in finding their son and securing his safe return. |
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| Friday 7th April, 2023. A blast occurred at the perimeter of Sulaymaniyah International Airport. There were no material losses or fatalities sustained as a consequence of the detonation. The occurrence was a Turkish drone attack aimed at Mazlum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Abdi was en route to Rojava via Sulaymaniyah airfield after having met with the American personnel at the PUK's counter-terrorism facility when the drone strike took place. |
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| Monday 13th March, 2023. The shepherd who went missing recently in the town of Tuz Khurmatu has reportedly been discovered beheaded by Islamic State (IS) jihadists. He was accompanied by three other shepherds who had gone out of their way to pasture their herds in a remote area in the province of Kirkuk. They were reportedly attacked by IS jihadists, who had managed to hold one captive. He was found dead by locals, the other three had escaped unharmed. |
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| Monday 6th March, 2023. Iraq's Ministry of Defense has reportedly sent a letter to the agriculture department in Daquq, asking them to allocate 500 dunams of land owned by indigenous Kurdish farmers to build military barracks in the area. The land is located at the village of Kuli Tapaa near the town of Daquq, and belongs to local Kurdish residents. Fahmi Habib from the Kuli Tapaa village council said "We have informed some Kurdish lawmakers about this decision, and asked them to take steps to stop it. We will be forced to leave our village if the decision is enforced." |
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| Monday 20th February, 2023. A Kurdish civilian from Kirkuk was liberated from Islamic State (IS) captivity, nearly six months after he was abducted by the extremist group, local police confirmed. Aram Hadi was with his friend Ali Kakaraza, who served as a Peshmerga soldier, when they were kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Jawallbor area of Kirkuk province last August. The extremist group executed the Peshmerga fighter on his first day of abduction. |
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| Monday 6th February, 2023. A special team by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is due to arrive in Turkey to assist the rescue efforts in areas affected by the powerful earthquake in the neighbouring country. Accompanied by 25 ambulances, the teams were organized after Prime Minister Masrour Barzani instructed his government bodies, health ministry and Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) to provide assistance to the rescue teams in the country. |
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| Saturday 4th February, 2023. Unknown armed men, believed to be members of the Islamic State (IS) has abducted nother Kurdish youth in the disputed district of Tuz Khurmatu. The victim was identified as Barham Ali Jasim, 20, from Tuz Khurmatu district, and that he was kidnapped while he was on his way to work in Dawda area. Locals pointed out that Jasim was abducted by IS militants, with no information yet on his whereabouts. |
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| Tuesday 24th January, 2023. For the second time in three days, Iraqi Army forces raided different villages in Kirkuk and prevented Kurdish farmers from working on their agricultural fields. The Iraqi forces stormed the villages of Sarbashakh, Kharaba and Palkana in Sargaran area where they prevented Kurdish farmers from irrigating their lands. "The Iraqi forces raided the Kurdish villages at the request of non-indigenous Arabs" explained a Kurdish official. |
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| Friday 20th January, 2023. Funerals were held today in Duhok for five family members killed in Turkey's Mardin province. The Kurdish family traveling in a vehicle with a Duhok numberplate were visiting Mardin for medical treatment, according to their relatives, when they were shot "in the head" inside their car early yesterday morning. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani extended his condolences to the families involved and condemned the killings he also asked the Turkish government to reveal the causes behind this incident and bring the perpetrators to justice. |
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| Sunday 15th January, 2023. Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday abducted two local Kurdish shepherds while pasturing their herds at the village of Qalan in Garmiyan area, sources said. "The area where we operate is volatile, where we can see through night-vision binoculars IS militants moving during the night in places under the control of the Iraqi army. We wonder where they hide during the day," Colonel Marewan, a Peshmerga commander in Kolajo town near Kifri, said. "There are mostly Arab settlers living in nearby villages. Some of them work as farmers during the day, and take up arms as IS fighters at night," he added. "We regularly conduct military operations in these areas, and destroy their safe havens. They appear during the night, but disappear in the day." |
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| Monday 2nd January, 2023. The Iraqi government decided on 27th December to return the properties of Yazidis in Sinjar (Şengal) 47 years after they was confiscated and the Yazidis forcibly deported from their home region. Almost half a century after the previous Iraqi regime deported Yazidis from their home region and confiscated their lands, the Iraqi Council of Ministers has made a decision in the matter of those lands. The Ba'ath regime under Saddam Hussain regime in 1975 confiscated the property of Yazidis in 146 villages located in the Sinjar Mountain area, demolishing houses and blocking wells and springs with cement. “You can live according to the Yazidi faith, but you are not Kurds, you are Arabs,” said Saddam Hussain at the time. |
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| Thursday 22nd December, 2022. Unidentified armed men, believed to be Islamic State (IS) members, attacked a police checkpoint in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk on Thursday, killing an officer, there were also unconfirmed reports suggesting that several more policemen were also wounded in the armed attack. The jihadist group on Wednesday night carried out an attack on multiple outposts of the Iraqi Army after targeting a military HUMVEE in Sargaran, leaving soldiers either killed or Injured. Since Sunday this week alone there have been three separate attacks against civilians, the Iraqi Army, and federal police in Diyala and Kirkuk provinces, as a result of which nearly 30 people were either killed or wounded. |
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| Tuesday 13th December, 2022. Arab and Kurdish farmers are fighting over the ownership of agricultural land and are leading the situation to ethnic war. With the beginning of the plowing season, on December 7th, 2022, tensions and clashes erupted between a number of Arab and Kurdish farmers in Fariq village in Haftagar area of Daquq district south of Kirkuk. Tensions in Kirkuk villages and some other disputed territories have been ongoing for years since the political warfare and government measures failed to normalize the situation, most recently the efforts of Mohammed Shia Sudani's cabinet to revive the committee for implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the only constitutional way to resolve the tensions in the disputed territories. |
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| Friday 2nd December, 2022. At least five civilians were either killed or wounded today after Turkish warplanes targeted Asos mountain in Sulaymaniyah province. Turkish drones bombarded the mountain of Kelashin five times in a row. The airstrikes, which began this afternoon, targeted villagers who had visited the area for hunting in the mountain. As a result, "at least two civilians were killed and three others were wounded", Kamaran Hassan, head of the local administration in Mawat subdistrict reported. |
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| Tuesday 29th November, 2022. A Kurdish student in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk was found dead, a day after he went missing in the city, family members confirmed. The victim was identified as Ahmed Azad Assi, his family told BasNews, pointing out that he went missing after he took a taxi to go shopping in the town. "Since then, his mobile phone had been switched off," the victim's cousin said, pointing out that his body was found near Soma City in Kirkuk this morning. |
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| Monday 21st November, 2022. Despite warnings from the United States, Iran once again on Sunday carried out a new missile and drone attack against the opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region. No casualties were immediately confirmed. Kurdistan Region's Counter-Terrorism Service confirmed the report in a Facebook post and said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the headquarters and bases of the Kurdish opposition parties in different areas of the Region. |
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| Saturday 5th November, 2022. Islamic State (IS) militants released Sabah Nuri, a shepherd in the disputed Kurdish district of Khanaqin, Diyala province, after receiving $50,000 from his family as a ransom. The shepherd went missing in the border village of Narin, in Qara Tapa subdistrict, around two months ago and later his family was contacted by IS jihadists, demanding money in exchange for releasing the Kurdish civilian. |
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| Wednesday 26th October, 2022. Kurdistan Region's Special Office for Yezidi Abductees Affairs said on late Tuesday that it had liberated six young Yezidis, who were abducted by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014. The Office explained in a statement that the rescued Yazidis aged between 15 to 24, and identified as Sawsan Hassan Haydar, Roza Amin Barakat, Wafa Ali Abbas, Mazin Jardo Khalaf, Rosita Haji Bajo, and Jane Ziyad Haydar. However, it did not offer specific details about the operation or when and where the six abductees were rescued. |
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| Tuesday 18th October, 2022. The central executive board of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) released a statement regarding allegations of chemical weapons use by Turkey against Kurdish guerrillas on the territory of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (Bashur) since 2021. On Wednesday, the People's Defence Forces (HPG) released video footage showing two guerrillas suffering severe symptoms reportedly after a Turkish chemical weapons attack. The footage, published on the ANF news site, reinforces claims that Turkey uses chemical weapons in its military operations against Kurdish guerrillas. |
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| Wednesday 5th October, 2022. Iran once again shelled the border areas of the Kurdistan Region. Possible casualties or material damage were not immediately known in the areas of Barbazin and Zare Valley in Sidakan of Bradost region, in Erbil province. This comes as Iran has continued to bombard the border areas of the Kurdistan Region for nearly two weeks, causing casualties and material damage to civilian properties. |
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| Wednesday 28th September, 2022. Bases and headquarters of the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region were heavily bombarded by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The drone and ballistic missile attacks by Iran which claimed the lives of at least 13 people and wounding nearly 60 others has been internationally condemned. |
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| Saturday 17th September, 2022. A Kurdish civilian was injured on Friday by a Turkish shelling in a village near the border between Kurdistan Region and Turkey, local sources said. The shelling targeted Evlih village near Zakho and injured 46-year old civilian Mahdi Abas who was rushed to a hospital in Zakho for treatment after the incident. Turkey has stepped up artillery shelling attacks and airstrikes in the border areas of Kurdistan Region. |
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| Tuesday 6th September, 2022. A Kurdish shepherd on Monday night was abducted by Islamic State (IS) militants outside Qara Tappa in Khanaqin. The fate and whereabouts of the abductee is not known yet, Khanaqin is one of the key disputed Kurdish towns in Diyala province. It is currently under the control of the Iraqi government and the region continues to struggle with remaining IS insurgents who regularly target civilians and security forces. local sources said that he is originally from Rizgari subdistrict of Kalar, in south of Sulaymaniyah. |
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| Monday 29th August, 2022. A Kurdish shepherd was killed in southeast Kirkuk on Sunday by suspected ISIS militants, a security source told Kurdistan 24. The attack took place near Rokhana lake in the southeastern Laylan subdistrict in the province, according to the police source. At least four Kurdish shepherds were attacked by two suspected ISIS militants, whose offensive was later repelled by the herders, the source added. As a result of the clashes, Zirak Zahir, a Kurdish shepherd, and a militant were killed, he said. The other assailant fled the scene. |
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| Sunday 28th August, 2022. The body of one of the two men abducted by unidentified gunmen in a village of Kirkuk was found beheaded. A number of unidentified gunmen attacked two civilians in the village of Jabal Bor, in eastern Kirkuk and abducted them. Both abducted people are from Jabal Bora village. The second, Aram Hadi Rashid, was taken to unknown destination. The source said one of their mobile phones were found in the area, along with the beheaded body of Peshmerga, Ali Abdullah. |
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| Tuesday 23rd August, 2022. At least three Iraqi policemen have been killed along with a civilian in a series of alleged ISIS attacks in Kirkuk. A unit of Iraqi Federal Police came under attack by ISIS militants in Kirkuk's Riyadh district, as a result of which a policeman has been killed and another one injured. In the same district and in another attack, alleged ISIS militants killed the head of Hajl village, Mohammad Najam and the son of the 51-year-old's village head has been injured. Two more members of the police forces were killed in clashes with the militants in southern Kirkuk's Daquq district. |
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| Sunday 7th August, 2022. At least six young Kurds have been detained since Sunday morning in southern Kirkuk without arrest warrants, according to their relatives, informed sources told Kurdistan 24. The detainees include workers, farmers, and a teacher, three of their family members confirmed to Kurdistan 24. They were detained in Mansour village in the southern district of Daquq in an area known as Haftaghar, Kurdistan 24 has learned. The Iraqi forces intend to evict the Kurds from the village through this "pogrom", another relative of one of the detainees told Kurdistan 24 on the condition of anonymity. |
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| Monday 1st August, 2022. A Turkish drone struck a car and wounded at least one person on the highway in Sulaymaniyah. The drone attack came less than two weeks after Turkish shelling in town of Zakho killed nine people, including three children. The attack was up for discussion at a July 26 meeting of the UN Security Council, during which Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein demanded the withdrawal of all Turkish troops from Iraq. |
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| Wednesday 27th July, 2022. ISIS attacks killed just under 400 people in the disputed territories between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region from January 2021 to April 2022, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy, Dr. Dindar Zebari, told a press conference last week. "More than 283 ISIS terrorist acts were recorded in the disputed areas from January 2021 to April 2022, which collectively resulted in 399 martyrs, 539 wounded individuals, and 40 abductions," Zebari said. "The types of incursions terrorists utilized included affirmative attacks, ambush, suicide bombings, booby-trapped vehicle and motorcycle, IED (improvised explosive device), 3-million-trees-cut-down, fake checkpoints, rockets, mortars, and abductions." |
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| Sunday 24th July, 2022. The torture of a member of the Kaka'i group in Saladin province on Saturday sparked an outcry among the religious minority. A group of PMF militants allegedly tortured Ayman 'Abdin near Saladin's Amerli district. Four mask-clad militants forcefully took him into a Toyota pickup truck. They proceeded to beat him and break his nose. They cursed the "Kurds, Peshmerga, and President Masoud Barzani," 'Abdin recalled to Kurdistan 24 on Saturday night. "They shaved my mustache," he added. The assailants partially shaved his head as well to humiliate him. |
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| Wednesday 20th July, 2022. At least nine people were killed and more than 20 others injured when a Turkish air raid attacked the resort area of Parakh, in the Zakho district of Duhok province. Those killed included three men, three women and three children. All the casualties were Iraqi citizens. At least four missiles hit the resort. |
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| Tuesday 5th July, 2022. Makhmour (Maxmûr) refugee camp was targeted by a Turkish drone missile strike on Tuesday. While no fatalities were reported, the attack caused material damage. In a statement after the attack, the Self-Defence Forces Command of the camp urged the international community, the United Nations, and human rights institutions to raise their voices against ongoing attacks on the refugee camp and to take the required action to stop crimes against humanity being committed by Turkey. About 12,000 people live in the refugee camp which is located about 60 kilometres southwest of Hewlêr (Erbil). |
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| Monday 4th July, 2022. The acting governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jubouri, issued a decision on Sunday threatening to deprive the Kurds, especially displaced people of their residential cards" in the province. In a letter dated July 3, Al-Jubouri called for the advanced headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in Kirkuk to "carry out a comprehensive campaign to all Kurdish citizen's houses to check their ration cards and compare them with their permanent residency situation throughout Kirkuk. The letter indicated that this step was taken as a prelude to canceling any residency card and ration card for the Kurds who do not reside in Kirkuk. |
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| Wednesday 29th June, 2022. Residents of about 200 homes in one of the neighbourhoods of Daquq district, south of Kirkuk, have been deprived of national electricity for the last two weeks and they are now dependent on private generators that supply them with less than seven hours a day, despite the high temperatures that exceeds 40 degrees Celsius. The reason for the power outage in Runaki neighbourhood in Daquq is due to the breakdown of the electrical transformer for the neighbourhood two weeks ago without being repaired or replaced. |
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| Wednesday 15th June, 2022. A 12 year old boy named Saleh Khader Nasso and his grandfather, Khader Nasso, were reportedly killed after two missiles fired from a Turkish drone targeting the People's Assembly building in the Sinun district of Sinjar region hit a shop next door. Six others were also injured in the shop, most of the others were also children. Since the start of this year, Turkey has already launched 41 drone strikes in the region. |
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| Monday 13th June, 2022. ISIS militants reportedly abducted an Arab shepherd in southern Kirkuk province. The incident occurred in Haftaghar village of Kirkuk's southern Daquq district. In early April, four Arab In May, the group released a Kurdish shepherd in the Dawood area between Tuz Khurmatu and Kifri districts after the victim's family paid $30,000 in ransom. Another was freed after a $25,000 ransom was paid. shepherds were abducted in Daquq near the village of Tamur. Their fate remains unknown. |
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| Wednesday 8th June, 2022. Turkey's Operation Claw-Lock, launched on 17th April, has resulted in the loss of some three million trees in the Badinan region, The Green Party of Kurdistan said on the eighth anniversary of the party's founding. The invasion attacks deliberately targeted trees in the region, resulting in the large-scale destruction, Kurdistan Greens Spokesman Dana Najmadeen told reporters. "We filed complaints with the Iraqi Supreme Court and the United Nations against the brutal and organised attacks." |
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| Wednesday 25th May, 2022. Police stations in Khanaqin district are crowded with Arabs from middle and southern province fled Khanaqin 19 years ago to escape retaliation by the Kurds they took their lands. They have returned to Khanaqin following the control of the disputed territories in Iraq including Khanaqin by the Iraqi security forces ISF, to file lawsuits, seeking compensations for the losses they afflicted following 2003 US war against Iraq. 300 complaints have been registered with the police in Khanaqin in just one month and the process continues. These citizens were settled in Khanaqin villages during the Ba'ath regime as part of the Arabization process, but returned to southern and central Iraq in 2003 when the Ba'ath regime was overthrown and the displaced Kurdish and Turkmen farmers returned to their hometowns and villages. |
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| Monday 23rd May, 2022. Several people were killed and injured by an ISIS attack on villages south of Kirkuk. The violent attacks targeted the Baldagh and Dokshman areas of Kirkuk's aza district. The attacking ISIS militants took advantage of the severe dust storm that engulfed large parts of the country. A security source told Kurdistan 24 that two civilians and three members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were killed in the attack. The ISIS militants also burned crops and machinery. Furthermore, Kurdistan 24's correspondent reported that ISIS militants also launched an attack on Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces south of Mosul, killing seven. |
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| Sunday 22nd May, 2022. Five people were killed and one injured near the town of Chamchamal in the governorate of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in an air strike reported to have been conducted by Turkey. Two of the fatalities were identified as Aram Haji, the local administrator of the village of Tuteqel, and his son-in-law Ismail Ibrahim. The air strike was conducted around the same time as a Turkish drone targeted a civilian vehicle in Makhmour refugee camp, killing one. |
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| Monday 2nd May, 2022. A missile attack hit an oil refinery in Erbil (Hewler), yesterday. "This evening six Katyusha rockets targeted an area in Khabat district in western Erbil province. The attack resulted in no casualties or material damages. The rockets were originated from Bartella town in Nineveh province." |
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| Sunday 1st May, 2022. ISIS beheaded a Sunni Arab man in the disputed province of Kirkuk. According to Kurdistan 24 sources, ISIS launched an attack in the early hours of Sunday on a farm located between Bibani and Kalwer villages in the town of Pirde in disputed Kirkuk province. A source in Pirde's police force told Kurdistan 24 that cameras showed four ISIS militants entering a farm owned by a Kurdish citizen and guarded by an Arab family. The ISIS militants handcuffed the head of the family, the Sunni Arab man, and then beheaded him. The same source mentioned ISIS raised their flag in the same area near Karez village early Sunday. The local security forces were informed, and they took the flag down. |
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| Thursday 28th April, 2022. Demonstrators gathered by the United Nations offices in Erbil to protest against Operation Claw-Lock, a military operation launched by Turkey last week. "We demand the Iraqi government and the international community exert pressure on Turkey to withdraw its troops," said Kurda Salih, one of the organisers of the demonstration. "Under the pretext of pursuing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters, Turkey has destroyed, evacuated, and exterminated entire Kurdish villages," Salih said. The demonstrators submitted an official letter of protest to the United Nations. Protests against Turkeys alleged chemical weapons use in Bashur are also spreading in Europe. |
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| Monday 18th April, 2022. The Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar announced on Sunday that a new cross-border military operation was being launched in northern Iraq, using warplanes and artillery to bombard large areas, and troops being deployed on Iraqi soil, but the Turkish invasion remained unreported in the Western online media, most of which only published stories on the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the top of their front pages. Iraqi Kurdish media mentioned at least two villages in the Kani Masi area, the villages of Hirore and Sararo, being hit in Turkish strikes, and said that the military operation was being carried out ‘on the pretext of targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters. |
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| Saturday 9th April, 2022. ISIS killed one person and injured three others in the disputed province of Kirkuk. "Armed ISIS militants launched an attack on a security point in Dakishman village belonging to the security units of the Iraqi parliament member Wasfi al-Asi," a government security source in Kirkuk told Kurdistan 24's correspondent. "The attack resulted in killing a member in the security unit and injuring another one." The correspondent for Kurdistan 24 was informed that a second ISIS attack had taken place at the same time, but in a different part of the province. "In the second attack, ISIS rained on civilians in the southern part of the province with gunfire", the security source disclosed. "Two civilians were severely injured in the gunfire and a civilian named Husam Mohammed Khalaf was abducted." |
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| Thursday 24th March, 2022. Iraqi security forces banned the raising of Kurdistan flag in the disputed territories as Kurdish residents were celebrating Kurdish New Year Newroz on March 20. The eve of Newroz, Kurds celebrate by wearing traditional attire and lighting bonfires. It also commemorates the day Peshmarga (Kurdish forces) controlled the oil-rich city of Kirkuk after driving out the former Ba'ath regime from the city in 1991. Iraqi army detained four young Kurdish residents of the villages of Zummar for raising the Kurdistan flag. |
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| Thursday 24th March, 2022. The two farmers found guilty by court in Kirkuk based on lawsuit by Arab farmers were released based on social deal between both parties and voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit by the plaintiff, a source told KirkukNow. The Daquq court's decision, which was issued a few days ago, came based on a lawsuit filed by a number of Arab farmers two years ago against two Kurdish farmers from the village of Kuli Tapa of Daquq district, following tension and clashes between the two sides over the ownership of agricultural lands. A source said "On March 23rd, court has decided to release both convicted farmers because the plaintiff dropped their case after they received an amount of money". |
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| Sunday 13th March, 2022. The missiles fell in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region, east of the new US consulate there. The attack, which occurred at 1:20 AM local time, involved a dozen ballistic missiles and did cause damage to the headquarters of Kurdistan 24. The assault marked the first time since Jan. 8, 2020, that Iran has fired missiles from its own territory into Iraq. Then, the target was Iraq's Ayn al-Asad Air Base in the west of the al-Anbar province, where US forces are based. |
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| Thursday 10th March, 2022. The security forces in Kirkuk asked a number of Kurdish families in a neighbourhood to vacate their houses based on complaints submitted by a number of officers who served during the rule of the Baath Party, claiming that their ownership belonged to them. Following the fall of the Baath regime led by Saddam Hussein in 2003, these officers, mainly Arabs, left their homes and Kurdish families forced to leave Kirkuk from 1970s through 2003, returned to the city and took over those houses. During the past 19 years, some of these houses have traded several times. |
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| Monday 28th February, 2022. Turkish warplanes targeted the Barzan area of Erbil, local activists reported. The Turkish jets targeted alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Balinda village in the Barzan area, according to a security source. "The sound of the bombing was very loud and the plane flew over the sky for a while," Sarwan Barzani tweeted. |
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| Friday 19th February, 2022. The Joint Operations Command in Kirkuk has deployed a military force and Hummers inside an old headquarters dating back to the rule of the Baath regime, located in the middle of residential neighbourhoods. Residents of Al-Hisabat neighbourhood, predominantly Kurd, are unpleased with a military base in the middle of neighbourhood. Zaher Fattah, a resident of the neighbourhood, said, "Deploying troops in that building causes us panic and fear". |
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| Monday 7th February, 2022. Another Kurdish official has been dismissed from his government position in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk. According to the information, Muzaffar Ibrahim, director of the Gas Service Company - Kirkuk Branch of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, was removed from his position and replaced by an Arab. Dozens of Kurdish officials have so far been dismissed in Kirkuk since October 2017. |
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| Sunday 30th January, 2022. The Iraqi Army is not able to fill the security gap in the territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad without the help of Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces, an official argued today. Speaking to Kurdistan 24 after a meeting between an Iraqi security delegation and Peshmerga commanders in Kirkuk on Sunday, Abdul Khaliq Tal'at, Kurdistan's representative at the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said securing the disputed areas would also require the participation of the Peshmerga fighters as the Iraqi Army cannot do the task on its own. |
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| Wednesday 19th January, 2022. A bomb attack targeted the office of the Kurdish deputy speaker of Iraqi Parliament in the disputed province of Kirkuk, no casualties were reported. The incident took place in Rahimiwa neighbourhood of Kirkuk province where unknown men attacked the office of Shakhawan Abdullah with a grenade, according to the information BasNews has obtained. The attack did not result in any casualties but caused material damage to the office. |
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| Saturday 1st January, 2022. Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga Forces this morning marked the first day of the New Year with an operation against the Islamic State (IS) in Garmiyan area where they destroyed several hideouts of the extremist group. The Peshmerga Ministry said in a statement that the operation cleaned the areas around the villages of Palkana, Muadda, as well as Mount Gharra. They found and discovered several IS hideouts where large caches of weapons and ammunition were also seized. |
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| Friday 17th December, 2021. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cooperatively with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), launched on Thursday an application to combat violence against women. During a ceremony, Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed said that the ministry and High Council of Women Affairs have cooperated with the UNFPA to launch the app, called SAFE YOU, across the Kurdistan Region. Ahmed pointed out that the KRG has "zero tolerance" towards those committing gender-based violence (GBV), noting that the new application would "take us one step closer" towards a society free of violence. The app is said to alert emergency contacts when a GBV victim is in danger. |
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| Tuesday 7th December, 2021. A number of Katyusha rockets on Tuesday evening were fired at the positions of Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces in Prde, south of capital Erbil, with no casualties reported. Rashad Wali, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official in the area, confirmed the report and pointed out that a number of rockets fell in the vicinity of Prde but did not result in any casualties among the Peshmerga forces or serious material damage. Said Bestwn, a military commander in Prde, said that the incident took place at 7:20 p.m. (Erbil Time), explaining that six Katyusha rockets had fallen in the area. |
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| Sunday 28th November, 2021. Five Peshmerga soldiers were killed and four others were injured in the latest Islamic State (IS) attack in Kulajo area of Kalar, south of Sulaymaniyah province. Late yesterday night, IS snipers opened fire at an outpost of the fifth infantry Peshmerga brigade in kalan village which was soon repelled by the Kurdish forces, Peshmerga Ministry said in a statement. |
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| Thursday 18th November, 2021. Iraqi forces yesterday prevented Kurdish farmers from plowing their lands in a village in the disputed province of Kirkuk, an official revealed. A force from the 8th Division of the Iraqi Army this morning surrounded the Kurdish village of Shanagha in the Sargaran district, in Dibis area of Kirkuk province and demanded its farmers not to plow their lands and remove all agricultural equipment, according to the information BasNews has obtained. Shanagha, similarly to several other villages, falls in the territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, the residents of which often face Arabisation attempts. |
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| Sunday 31st October, 2021. A number of houses and vehicles in the Kurdistan Region's capital Erbil on Saturday suffered from great damages as a result of flash floods following heavy rainfalls earlier the day. Rescue teams had been deployed to help out the areas of Erbil affected by Saturday's flash floods. In some areas, helicopters were used to rescue people stuck in their houses or other sites. Some cars were damaged by the flash floods in different places of Erbil and in Shaqlawa district, residents reported that some of their livestock had been killed in the storm. |
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| Tuesday 12th October, 2021. Iraqi security forces attacked the people in the Kurdish neighbourhoods and arrested 71 who celebrated the Kurdish parties' achieving 6 parliamentary seats in the Iraqi parliament elections held on October 10th. Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani tweeted that he had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi by phone about the situation. |
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| Wednesday 29th September, 2021. Unidentified people have recently stolen oil from one of the pipelines in the disputed province of Kirkuk, a report revealed on Wednesday, pointing out that an Iraqi army checkpoint is near the pipeline. The unknown people had made a hole to the pipeline which is located in Sargarran town of Kirkuk province, where a checkpoint of the Iraqi army is present as well, using trucks to smuggle the oil without facing any problems. Locals in the area were shocked to hear about the fact that the trucks had been able to get through the Iraqi checkpoint despite usual "very strict" measures by the security unit. |
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| Sunday 12th September, 2021. Erbil International Airport on Saturday was attacked with two explosive-laden drones, Kurdistan Region's Counter Terrorism said. The brief statement confirmed “no casualties” as the result of the attack. However, possible material damages are not known yet. Other unconfirmed reports said the air defense systems of the US-led Global Coalition forces, who are stationed at the airport, had downed the drones before causing serious impacts on the airport. No information are available yet on the source location of the drones. |
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| Tuesday 24th August, 2021. Multiple drone strikes on today hit areas in the vicinity of villages near Penjwen district of Sulaymaniyah province, officials confirmed. Penjwen Mayor Zana Abdulrahman said that there were no immediate reports of casualties after the airstrikes which started at around 6 am (local time). The airstrikes hit the vicinity of the villages of Kani Miran, Homarasenan, and Wiryaawayan, where no military positions of the government or armed groups exist. Mayor Abdulrahman said the airstrikes have caused panic among the people of the region. |
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| Saturday 7th August, 2021. Islamic State (IS) militants on Friday night set up a fake checkpoint near Makhmour, southwest of Erbil, and abducted 11 civilians while wounding three others. The incident took place near Kandal village in the suburb of Makhmour, local sources said, noting that the militants had disguised themselves in military uniforms. Three other people were injured after they suspected the checkpoint and attempted to escape and did not stop. IS militants opened fire at the vehicle and injured its three passengers. |
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| Thursday 29th July, 2021. Since 2017, more than 5,000 Kurdish families have fled the disputed town of Khanaqin and its surrounding areas in Diyala, east of Iraq, a Kurdish official said. Khanaqin, together with Kirkuk and dozens of other Kurdish towns, were overran by the Iraqi Army in October 2017 to oust the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan Region, which has led to a devastating security situation. The worsening security situation is the main reason that Kurds are leaving their original areas. After repeated abductions of civilians by IS militants, up to 40 villages in Khanaqin area have so far been evacuated. |
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| Thursday 8th July, 2021. More than 25,000 non-indigenous Arab households have been moved to the Kurdish disputed province of Kirkuk since October 2017 as part of a process to Arabise the region. The report claimed that all the non-indigenous Arab families have been given documents, including food ratio cards, by the local administration. Meanwhile, 120 Kurdish officials have been replaced with Arabs while the laws require power sharing between the Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmens. |
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| Wednesday 23rd June, 2021. The Kurdistan Region has practically begun the efforts to draft the first constitution of its own, a lawmaker said. MP Sara Dilshad, from Kurdistan Region Parliament's legal committee, said the parliament presidency has recently discussed the practical steps of drafting the constitution in a meeting with the head of political factions at the legislature. Following the meeting, a legal advisory board that includes representatives from Presidency, Parliament, and Government of Kurdistan Region has been formed. All the political factions in the Kurdistan Region agree on the necessity of having a constitution in the semi-autonomous region. |
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| Wednesday 9th June, 2021. An 11-year-old child was killed on Wednesday after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the vicinity of Makhmour, a Kurdish disputed town to the southwest of Erbil. Makhmour Mayor Rizgar Mohammed said that the blast also injured two civilians. The explosion was caused by an old IED believed to be made by the Islamic State (IS) and planted when the group was in control of the town back in 2014. |
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| Monday 31st May, 2021. Five loaded rocket launchers discovered today by Iraqi Security Forces in Kirkuk pointed at the Peshmerga positions. Iraq's War Media Cell said the five Grad rockets were discovered in Pirde (Altun Kopri) and the security forces have launched an investigation. The Shia militia groups linked to Iran are often blamed for the rocket attacks not only against the Peshmerga, but also the US forces in other provinces of Iraq. |
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| Monday 31st May, 2021. An improvised explosive device (IED) killed a shepherd today outside the Kurdish disputed town of Khanaqin in Diyala province. Last night ISIS attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint in the district of Tuz Khurmatu. Four soldiers were wounded in the attack, the insurgents escaped towards Hamrin mountain range. On Saturday ISIS released an execution video of a Kurdish police officer who had been abducted in Narin, Diyala province around one and a half years ago, ISIS executed him after their ransom demands of a Yazedi girl in exchange had been refused. |
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| Saturday 29th May, 2021. The Baghdad-appointed governor of the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jabouri, continues to push the Kurds out of their ancestral lands and replace them by non-indigenous Arabs. In his latest attempt, Jabouri attempted to provide houses and agricultural lands, which originally belonged to the Kurds, to scores of Arab families from Shamar tribe, who come from southern provinces of Iraq. Out of 42 villages in Sargaran, at least 40 of them are Kurdish and are under the threat of Arabisation. |
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| Tuesday 18th May, 2021. A fire burned a vast area of farmland in the disputed Kurdish areas of Kirkuk province, officials said on Tuesday. Kirkuk Police Spokesperson Qais Abdulrazaq told BasNews that the latest fire, which is believed to be a deliberate act of sabotage, was reported from Shanishin village on Kirkuk-Erbil road. He said the firefighters had rushed to control the blaze but it has already burned a vast area to ashes. Crop burning season (May to June) has started again, it's been yearly since October, 2017. |
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| Wednesday 12th May, 2021. Last night at around 10:00 pm, Erbil time, the Islamic State insurgents targeted a Peshmerga position in an area between the two villages of Balaga and Omar Bil, with the Kurdish forces repelling the attack. However, a Peshmerga fighter named Mohsen Hussen, 45, was wounded in the attack and later succumbed to his injuries on his way to hospital, he leaves 4 young daughters. |
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| Wednesday 5th May, 2021. A policeman was killed, two were injured and two oil wells exploded west of Kirkuk in an attack by IS militants riding motorbikes yesterday. ISIS are regrouping in the disputed territories and have lately escalated attacks. The disputed territories extend from Khanaqin in the east on the border with Iran to the city of Kirkuk heading to the west of Mosul in Shingal, home to Ezidi ethno-religious minority, on the border with Syria. |
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| Saturday 1st May, 2021. Early this morning, three Peshmerga were killed and others wounded whilst repelling an Islamic State (ISIS) attack close to the village of Qaya Bashi near Prde in Kirkuk province. The militants attacked the Peshmerga Brigade 10 with mortars, machine guns and AK-47s. The attack took place at thirty minutes past midnight and lasted 45 minutes. The Peshmerga killed were Captain Pishtiwan Zrari, Idris Barham and Hemin Yahya Saeed. |
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| Friday 23rd April, 2021. An Iranian backed militia group in Shingal names a street after a commander killed in a US airstrike for hit ties with Iran, a similar move repeated in other disputed territories. A month ago, brigade three of pro-Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces PMF paramilitary deployed in Shingal district, home to Ezidi religious minority, put a big poster for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a key Shiite commander of PMF, in a main street of Shingal without consultation with the municipality in charge of such issues. |
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| Friday 16th April, 2021. The USA, UK, France, Germany, and Italy released a joint statement condemning the Wednesday night attacks on Erbil Airbase and a Turkish military facility near Bashiqa. The attacks were not claimed by any established groups, but suspicion immediately fell on the Iranian backed militias in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), who have been behind similar attacks on Erbil in the past. |
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| Thursday 15th April, 2021. A drone dropped explosives near US forces stationed at Erbil airport in the Kurdistan region late yesterday, Kurdish officials said, with no immediate reports of casualties. A separate rocket attack killed a Turkish soldier at a military base nearby, the Turkish defense ministry said. Washington blames the Iran-backed militias. |
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| Sunday 11th April, 2021. Directorate of Kirkuk police has transferred the cases of 49 Kurdish police officers to Mosul martial court, The case is dated back to November 2017, a month following 2017 referendum for independence by the Kurdistan northern region from Iraq. The case was halted then by a political decision in Baghdad temporarily then reactivated late by March upon approval of the Iraqi minister of interior. The Iraqi ministry of interior on March 17 dictated Kirkuk police directorate to be charged by Iraqi penal code 111 of (crimes against national security) for being separatists, supporting the Kurdistan region. |
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| Monday 5th April, 2021. Kurdish officials and British diplomats gathered in Erbil to remember the 30th anniversary of the UNSC's Resolution 688 by naming a street in Erbil after former British PM Sir John Major. On 5th April 1991, in the wake of the ceasefire to the Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 688 to prevent the Baath regime from systematic repression against the people of Kurdistan. It later led to the creation of the No-fly Zone over Kurdistan, which prevented the regime aircrafts from flying over these areas. |
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| Wednesday 24th March, 2021. Iraqi security forces banned raise of Kurdistan flag in the disputed territories as Kurdish residents were celebrating Kurdish New Year Newroz on March 20. It also commemorates the day Peshmarga (Kurdish forces) controlled the oil-rich city of Kirkuk after driving out the former Ba'ath regime from the city in 1991. |
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| Friday 12th March, 2021. A soldier of Iraqi army was killed and another injured yesterday night when militants named as "ISIS" fired Iraqi army brigade southwest of Daquq district of Kirkuk Northern Province. Brigade 45 of Iraqi army deployed in the villages of Mora and Ban Shakh, southwest of daquq, were targeted by snipers around 11 pm. |
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| Wednesday 3rd March, 2021. Kurdistan Region's Counter-Terrorism Unit announced that a man involved in the Erbil rocket attack last month has been arrested. On February 15, 14 rockets were fired towards Erbil International Airport, killing a foreign contractor working with the Coalition forces, as well as an Iraqi civilian. The attack also left seven others injured, including US service members. |
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| Tuesday 16th February, 2021. Three people were taken in by hospitals in Erbil after a rocket attack on Monday night, Kurdistan Region's Health Ministry said. The ministry confirmed that one of the injured works as a guard at a consulate, while the other is a Syrian Kurdish national. One of the injured needed immediate surgery as he suffered severe injuries. |
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| Saturday 6th February, 2021. Today, in a somber ceremony, in the village of Kocho, the re-burial of the 104 of the 700 Yezidis massacred by Daesh/ISIS in 2014 finally took place. This is the first funeral for the exhumed and identified bodies of those buried in mass graves by ISIS. |
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| Thursday 21st January, 2021. A security vacuum in the district of Makhmour in Erbil province has caused desolation of Kurdish villages in the area, consequently affecting agricultural production. The security vacuum came to being after forces of the Federal Government retook the area from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by force after the latter held a referendum on independence, giving ISIS room to be active at night. |
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| Monday 19th January, 2021. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan renewed criticism of the current Kirkuk administration, accusing it of working as a "chauvinistic" and adopting Saddam Hussein's policy. MP for Kirkuk, Jamal Muhammad Shakour, said, "We witnessed the current governor of Kirkuk Rakan Saeed al-Jubouri's Baathist actions again; in excluding, marginalizing and fighting the Kurds for several years without any interference from the federal government." |
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| Wednesday 13th January, 2021. Three years after end of ISIS war, Kirkuk's Riadh subdistrict still lays in ruins. Deprived of most basic services, residents of the villages in Kirkuk's Riadh subdistrict have been requesting the Kirkuk administration for compensations and rebuilding the infrastructure. Most of the villages in Riadh subdistrict (located 33 km south of Kirkuk City in Hawija district) were destroyed in the ISIS war and are still lay in ruins: houses are destroyed, no electricity and water provision, and part of their inhabitants are displaced. |
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| Wednesday 6th January, 2021. Anonymous gunmen opened fire on a Kurdish young man named Peshtuwan Karim in Tuz Khurmato and he lost his life to his wounds. Tuz Khurmato is one of the Kurdish towns invaded by Iraqi forces/Iranian-backed militias since October 16th 2017. The UN and Human rights organizations should intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Kurds. |
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| Friday 18th December, 2020. ISIS/Daesh ambushed a civilian, Kamal Rabi Jalal, in his vehicle near Kubeiba village in west Kirkuk countryside and burned the car while he was still in it before fleeing. |
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| Monday 7th December, 2020. Ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk. Iraqi forces destroyed stores and car shops that belong to Kurdish business owners in Hasir market which is a Kurdish neighbourhood in Kirkuk. Tens of Kurdish business owners lost their jobs because of this brutal action by the Iraqi government. Human rights organizations and UN organizations should pay attention to what is happening against the Kurds in Kirkuk. |
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| Thursday 3rd December, 2020. Iraqi government refused to send salaries of Kurdish employees. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Spokesperson Jutyar Adil said on Wednesday that Erbil has borrowed 205 million dollars to pay the salaries of the autonomous region's employees resulting from Baghdad's failure to release funds allotted for that purpose amid ongoing budget disputes between the two governments. |
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| Friday 13th November, 2020. Turkish and Iranian bombs are likely responsible for setting alight nearly 50,000 acres of land in the Kurdistan Region this summer, according to a new report analyzing satellite imagery, making this one of the worst years for wildfires and sparking concerns for the future of the Region's biodiversity. The Netherlands-based NGO PAX compared reports of Turkish and Iranian artillery fire and airstrikes with satellite imagery showing areas where fires had swept through vegetation between June 1 and October 1. |
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| Monday 9th November, 2020. Kurdish farmers in Kirkuk have complained that Arab farmers are not abiding by an agreement to stay off farmland in Daquq, with federal police doing little to solve the situation. Locals say an agreement was made that neither Kurdish farmers nor Arabs in the area would use 7,000 dunams of farmland in order to avoid further tensions in the area. However, farmer say that they are prevented from using the land while Arab residents violate the agreement. |
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| Tuesday 27th October, 2020. After 21 days of his kidnapping, the family of a 52-year-old Kurdish university lecturer learned about his fate today. His body had been found 11 days ago at Domiz neighbourhood in Kirkuk, and the authorities don't want to hand it over before taking statements from his family members. Safa Kalhuri was a professor at the Garmiyan University in Kalar, Sulaymania province. He was abducted on 7 October on the road between Kalar and Khanaqin. Although his body had been found 11 days ago, his family learned about the discovery today. “The body was wrapped up in three blankets. There were signs of severe torture on it. It seems he was strangled. |
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| Wednesday 14th October, 2020. The Kurdish residents of Palkana village in Kirkuk province once again on Wednesday confronted a group of non-indigenous Arabs who were planning to seize their ancestral lands. Palkana and several other villages fall in the Kurdish areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.Today's attempt by the Arabs to seize the Kurdish lands comes after Iraqi Justice Minister ordered agricultural contracts of the non-indigenous Arabs to be deemed invalid on September 23. However, Kirkuk administration continues implementing the contracts which were part of the Arabisation campaign of the Baath Regime. |
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| Thursday 1st October, 2020. Kirkuk's Department of Agriculture refuses to abide by a decree from the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, which stipulates disregarding all contracts and leases on agricultural land from the Ba'th regime period. The decree was issued on 23 September for seven Iraqi provinces, including Kirkuk. Agricultural lands in Kirkuk and some other provinces were distributed among Arabs from central and southern provinces of Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'th regime. |
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| Sunday 20th September, 2020. A Peshmerga position was targeted by Katyusha close to the town of Altun Kopru north of Kirkuk last night. In a second attack villagers in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk were able to repel an attack by the Islamic State (ISIS/Daesh) militants. No reports of any casualties. |
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| Tuesday 8th September, 2020. Turkish warplanes and artillery struck several villages in the Duhok subdistrict of Kani Masi today. Kani Masi is located in the Amedi region of Duhok province, near the border with Turkey. Six villages were hit, including the villages of Razik, Baze and Chaqala, Kani Masi Mayor Sarbast Sabri said. No one was injured. |
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| Wednesday 26th August, 2020. Five attacks took place on Monday evening by armed militants (suspected of belonging to ISIS/Daesh) in Kirkuk and Diyala. Four attacks took place in rural areas of Diyala's Khanaqin district and two villagers were abducted. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in the fifth attack which was in southeastern Kirkuk. ISIS carried 101 attacks in Iraq between July 23 and August 19, according to its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba, accessible on its official telegram channel. |
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| Wednesday 19th August, 2020. Turkish airstrikes killed a Duhok villager, Khalid Abdulrahman, who was a local Teacher, while he was grazing his animals in Kani Masi today. |
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| Friday 7th August, 2020. Kurdish leaders, public warn of fresh wave of Arabisation, land occupation in Kirkuk. Days after Kurdish villagers engaged in clashes with Arab families over land ownership claims in the disputed territories of Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces, a senior Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader warned of a new wave of Arabisation, urging Kurdish leadership to halt the phenomenon. |
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| Wednesday 5th August, 2020. The Kakai's are marginalized and excluded in decision making in Iraq. From village administrations to the highest political, military and administrative positions, the Kaka'is don't have representatives they can petition when they need help. The Kaka'is are in need of representation more than ever, given they are being targeted by religious extremists and the existence of security vacuum in their areas. |
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| Monday 27th July, 2020. Today another young man from Kurdistan was martyred due to the targeting of his car by a Turkish drone in the city of Dohuk. |
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| Friday 17th July, 2020. Three handcuffed and blindfolded corpses found at a plantation in Kirkuk. "One of them is the owner of the plantation, the other two are Arabs who were employees. All three were handcuffed with black plastic handcuffs, and blindfolded as well. There were pistol bullet holes on their bodies," said the source who wished to remain anonymous because he didn't have permission to speak to the press. |
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| Friday 10th July, 2020. Sweden urges Kurdistan and Iraqi government to solve the problems of the Kurdish disputed territories. Katrin Mansson from the Swedish department for Middle East and North Africa Foreign affairs told Crimes Against Kurds "The Swedish government closely follows the development of the situation in the disputed territories of Iraq." |
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| Saturday 20th June, 2020. A Kurdish lady is crying for her dead son who was killed by Turkish air strike in Shiladzi. Turkish aircraft targeted a vehicle, in which four civilians were killed. |
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| Friday 12th June, 2020. A leaked document has gone viral proving that the Baghdad-appointed governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jabouri, has been involved in forceful expulsion of Kurds from their own lands. Jabouri's letter to the Kirkuk Operations Command asks for providing residence to an Arab tribal leader who had been moved to Palkana as part of the Arabisation Campaign and was compensated later for returning to his original hometown. The document names the Kurds as transgressors and states the army should help with ousting the Kurds. |
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| Friday 29th May, 2020. Burning of the Wheat and Barley's fields of the Kurdish farmers continues in Kirkuk. Photograph from QadirKaram village. |
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| Monday 25th May, 2020. The body of Kurdish policeman, Bahjat Anwar was found slaughtered inside his car on a public street in central Kirkuk, the first day of Eid Al-Fitr. |
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| Friday 15th May, 2020. ISIS attacked the Kurdish village of Mubarak, Khanaqin. One Kurdish man, Asaad Nemat, 54 was killed and Hussein Fazil, 24 was severely injured. Local residents request that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces return to Khanaqin to stop this ethnic cleansing process against them. |
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| Tuesday 12th May, 2020. Militias suspected to be ISIS killed a husband and wife in Tafraqa village, Khanaqin. Ali Farman was driving his car with his wife Huda Kenaan and their two year daughter on his way back to his village before they got shot by anonymous militias. His daughter was found unharmed inside the car. |
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| Saturday 2nd May, 2020. During late last night and the early hours of this morning, ISIS attacked Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias in 5 different locations in Salahadin province South West of Kirkuk, 11 Iraqi force members lost their lives and 30 others were severely injured. Iraqi forces also reported they blew up a "pick up vehicle which was carrying a group of Daesh [ISIS] fighters that was trying to attack a security point in Makishifiya." |
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| Sunday 19th April, 2020. Makhmur, Isis attack Iraqi forces again with a bomb set in the roadside, killing this soldier called Ali Hussein, and severely injuring another. |
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| Thursday 16th April, 2020. Kirkuk - ISIS performs its 5th attack in less than a week, last night ISIS attacked the oilfield police in Dubiz, Kirkuk and unfortunately a Kurdish security guard called Ahmed Mustafa was severely injured. KRG Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs chief of staff Jabar Yawar said his forces are capable of filling the security voids to stop these IS attacks in the disputed territories themselves - but the Iraqi government does not allow them to do so. |
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| Thursday 16th April, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented survivors of the Halabja chemical attack from seeking medical treatment in neighouring Iran amid ongoing border closures. Hawkar Sabir was three years-old when he survived the Halabja chemical weapons attack in March of 1988. There are almost 1,000 survivors of chemical weapon attacks suffering from chronic health conditions in the Kurdistan Region. 485 of them are in Halabja province. Many of them visit Iran two to three times a year for medical treatment. "The normal treatment hospital is now a COVID-19 treatment center. The injured cannot go to the hospital," said Luqman Abdulghafur, head of the Halabja Chemical Victims Society. |
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| Wednesday 15th April, 2020. Kirkuk again, ISIS attacked an Iraqi police patrol with a bomb set at the roadside in Ryad southeast Kirkuk and four Police members have been injured. |
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| Tuesday 14th April, 2020. Islamic State (ISIS) militants abducted four Iraqi soldiers near Daquq district in south of Kirkuk, and 2 Iranian-backed militia members were killed in the attack. The abductees are reportedly members of Iraq's military intelligence. Iraqi federal police has launched a search operation in the area to find and rescue the abductees. It comes amid a dramatic increase in the IS attacks on the Iraqi forces in the disputed Kurdish provinces. |
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| Monday 13th April, 2020. Kirkuk... An ISIS sniper killed this Iraqi police force member, called Ali Abdulhasan in Mansouria village. |
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| Thursday 9th April, 2020. ISIS kills two Hashd al-Shaabi members in an attack near al-Sadeq (Haliwa) military airport in Tuz Khurmatu. Earlier today, Two Policemen from Federal 1st Division were seriously injured in other ISIS attacks on checkpoints in villages in Riyadh district, Kirkuk Province. Attacking lightly armed checkpoints is the latest ISIS trend, with temporary COVID-19 checkpoints providing more targets. |
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| Wednesday 8th April, 2020. Two Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers (Sorkio Saeed and Ismail Faris) who were killed by ISIS militants after they launched an attack on Peshmerga forces in Kolajo in Garmiyan administration last night. |
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| Tuesday 7th April, 2020. Prominent Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani stated in a television interview that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had, in conversation, once acknowledged the city of Kirkuk's deep-rooted Kurdish identity as a legitimate foundation on which to build an independent Kurdistan, however undesirable he found this conclusion to be. Baghdad's harsh response to the 2017 independence referendum that is outlined in the constitution and the 1970 agreement before that and attacking the disputed territories has resulted in Kurdish landowners being told to vacate lands they had returned to by ethnically Arab claimants in possession of Saddam-Hussein-era documents. |
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| Tuesday 7th April, 2020. Today in Dubiz, ISIS attacked and abducted three Iraqi police officers and have taken them to an unknown location. Later in Dakuk, a bomb exploded attacking an Iraqi police patrol resulting in the severe injury of two police officers. |
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| Friday 3rd April, 2020. Kirkuk: Two bomb explosions kill three and wound another three. Three members of the security forces were killed, and another three were wounded in two car bombs The latest explosion took place this afternoon, in Ghazra neighbourhood in Kirkuk, where a bomb glued to a car exploded. Earlier today at 9:30 a.m., a road bomb blew up a vehicle of the 14th unit of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in Dibis district, 35 km west of Kirkuk. |
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| Thursday 26th March, 2020. ISIS attacks, wounds Iraqi Federal Police in disputed Kirkuk. A group of Islamic State militants launched two attacks against the Iraqi Federal Police forces in Kirkuk governorate. The source claimed Islamic State militants attacked a security checkpoint belonging to the Iraqi Federal Police southwest of the city of Kirkuk, leading to heavy clashes between both sides. The source also confirmed that Islamic State militants bombed the headquarters of a federal police brigade near the oil fields in Khobaza, severely wounding an officer. |
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| Monday 16th March, 2020. A motorcycle bomb exploded this morning in the Kurdish town of Tuz Khurmato, 7 innocent people were injured, it also damaged several shops. |
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| Thursday 5th March, 2020. Four ISIS gunmen snuck into the Kurdish town of Kolacho and started firing guns randomly. After a few minutes of clashing with the Kurdish Asayish forces, they were all injured and then arrested. |
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| Thursday 27th February, 2020. Ebdulxefer Hesen's house in Ênzê was completely destroyed by Turkish attacks. He is nevertheless determined to stay. "Turkey destroyed my house but I'm not leaving my land". The Turkish government attacks Kurdistan region (Bashur), Iraq almost daily. Very often the villages in the region of Binarê Qandil are affected. One of these villages is Ênzê. |
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| Sunday 23rd February, 2020. ISIS militants of the extremist organization launched an attack late Wednesday night on "Bahar Taza" village in Khanaqin district in Diyala Governorate within the disputed borders, killing a man and his son from the Kakai Kurd and wounding 10 others, including members of the security forces. Kurdish political officials and military leaders say that the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad are witnessing a notable security vacuum since the withdrawal of Peshmerga and Asaish forces from them after the events of October 16th, 2017. |
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| Monday 17th February, 2020. Militias in Tuz Khurmatu Southern Kirkuk finally released two Kurdish men that they had abducted two weeks ago for $70000. Previous to that, on Monday two other Kurdish men that had been abducted in the same area six months ago were released in return for a $40,000 ransom. |
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| Friday 31st January, 2020. Islamic State (IS) have abducted seven people in the disputed town of Qara Tapa, Diyala province, a report said yesterday. The militants had set up a fake checkpoint near the village of Qariyatakh, Qara Tapa town, where they abducted two drivers and five passengers. |
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| Wednesday 29th January, 2020. In Iskan neighbourhood, people waited in long queue to receive kerosene and later demonstrated as they could not receive it. "I have been in the line since 6:00 a.m. with this white beard (indicating how old he is) and cannot survive this crowd queue for 50 litres of kerosene," Hassan Ali, 63, said. |
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| Wednesday 15th January, 2020. Turkish jets carried out airstrikes on Sinjar today, targeting the YBS (Shingal Protection Units). Reports are that 5 YBS members were killed, including commander Zardasht Shingali and several others wounded, including a civilian. Commander Zardasht Shingali who fought against Daesh (ISIS) is one of the five militia members confirmed killed by Iraqi Security Media Cell after a YBS vehicle was targeted. |
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| Wednesday 8th January, 2020. Two Iranian missiles targeted Kurdistan region, one of them was shot down near Erbil while the other one was dropped the little town of Bardarash. Reports stated that American forces in Kurdistan stopped the missiles from targeting their original destinations. |
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| Friday 20th December, 2019. Kurdish villagers in Iraq's disputed Makhmour district repel ISIS attack last night. Residents of the village who are members of the Peshmerga, faced the intruders head-on, leading to armed clashes between them. The residents worked together and the perpetrators eventually withdrew into the darkness. The local residents were well aware that around 1,000 ISIS members exist in the foothills of Qarachokh Mountain in Makhmour district who are active during the night time. |
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| Wednesday 18th December, 2019. Iraqi forces started harassing the Kurdish families again by searching their houses in the Kurdish neighbourhood of Barootkhana early this morning. |
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| Tuesday 17th December, 2019. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani attended a ceremony today to mark Kurdistan Flag Day. PM Barzani, together with the children of Hujam Surchi, a Peshmerga martyr, raised Kurdistan flag to celebrate the national day. Hujam Surchi was beheaded in a brutal Islamic State (IS) propaganda video on 27 January 2015 after he was taken captive by the jihadist group. |
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| Tuesday 17th December, 2019. Young Kurdish men in Kirkuk were arrested for having the Kurdistan flags on their motorcycles and Kirkuk University authorities prevented the Kurdish students from celebrating Kurdistan Flag Day on campus. Kurdistan Flag is recognised by the Iraqi Constitution. However, since October 2017 when the Iraqi army attacked the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk in retaliation for the “independence referendum”, restrictions for Kurds and their national symbols in Kirkuk are put in place. |
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| Saturday 14th December, 2019. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement that 18,301 refugees fleeing the Turkish offensive in Syria have so far arrived in the autonomous region since early October. The KRG, apart from hosting the refugees in the Kurdistan Region, it has also delivered tons of humanitarian aid to the affected civilians in the neighbouring country through the Kurdish Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF). |
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| Wednesday 11th December, 2019. Unknown gunmen abducted 2 people in an ambush on Kirkuk - Diyala highway earlier today, one of them is said to be a member of the PUK'S security forces. |
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| Wednesday 11th December, 2019. Unknown gunmen believed to be ISIS militants attacked a security checkpoint manned by federal police near Kirkuk's Dubz district late yesterday night. Two police officers were injured in the attack. |
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| Friday 6th December, 2019. Earlier today, a member of the Kirkuk emergency police was killed, another was injured when a roadside bomb blast targeted their patrol in Panja Ali neighbourhood. |
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| Saturday 30th November, 2019. Three bombs exploded targeting civilians, many cars have destroyed and 16 people were injured in Kirkuk, Southern Kurdistan. Kirkuk is a Kurdish majority city, after it was invaded by the Iranian-backed militias they started bringing in newcomer Arabs for demographic change and they started threatening the Kurds in different ways to enforce them to leave similar to back in the days of Saddam Hussein. |
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| Thursday 21th November, 2019. A photo report has been released by IS showing its militants in Kirkuk pledging bayah to the new IS emir, Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Qurashi. Inteligence sources affirm al Hashimi imposed a capillary pledging allegiance and obedience from all IS operative cells. This is the 5th pledge of allegiance from Kirkuk Province and is the 22nd official pledge so far. |
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| Wednesday 13th November, 2019. Two more villages in northeastern Diyala's disputed district of Khanaqin have been deserted, bringing their total number since last year to six, villages of Shafiq and Jamil Beg, where dozens of families lived are now totally empty. Osman Manhal, headman of Shafiq village, explains "the increase in armed attacks by terrorists, particularly following the October 16, 2017 events (when the Peshmerga were replaced with Iraqi forces and Iranian backed militia) which have targeted civilians and security personnel have raise the fears and concerns of villagers". |
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| Tuesday 5th November, 2019. Turkish air strike near the Ezidi village of Bara in Shingal, about 15.30pm UK time. According to the correspondent, three people were injured; it's the third air strike in the area by Turkey since yesterday. |
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| Monday 4th November, 2019. Three civilians were killed, two others injured when a Turkish airstrike targeted a house in Shingal's Khansur residential compound earlier today. |
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| Monday 28th October, 2019. The Iraqi Commission of Integrity's Kirkuk office arrested 14 employees at the governorate's office yesterday. Warrants were issued for several officials close to acting Kirkuk governor Rakan Saeed al-Jibouri, including his son Qutaibia and brother Haji Ibrahim, who are his secretary and head of office respectively. The director of the accountancy directorate, the director of the planning directorate, the head of auditing directorate, a senior official at the general planning directorate, and the head of contracts were arrested on yesterday. |
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| Sunday 27th October, 2019. Kurdish prominent leader and the president of ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, said that the war against terrorism must continue after the killing of Islamic State (IS) top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his top aide, Abu Hesen al Mouhjir. Both were killed earlier today by US special forces in separate operations in separate locations in the Turkish held area of Syria. |
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| Saturday 26th October, 2019. An Islamic State (IS) attack resulted in the killing and wounding of three civilians in the disputed Kurdish town of Khanaqin. Jalawla mayor, Ya'qub Yousif, said that the jihadists attacked a village near the town yeserday night, where they killed one 14 year old civilian and wounded two others. |
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| Friday 25th October, 2019. More than 10,000 refugees have now crossed into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq fleeing the Turkish offensive in northeast Syria, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Many Syrian refugees have been moved to Bardarash camp in Duhok province, where local and international aid agencies are providing food and shelter. |
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| Saturday 19th October, 2019. Mohammed Hamid, 13 suffering from severe burns he sustained during Turkish bombardment in Rojava, northeast Syria is set to be brought to Erbil by the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) for treatment. Mohammed Hamid, 13, was injured during the Turkish offensive to take Serekanye from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Local medical officials have accused Turkey of using unconventional and banned weapons in the battle, allegations which Turkey denies. He is in considerable pain due to the wounds, according to his father. |
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| Friday 18th October, 2019. Iraqi Kurds plea for emergency funding amidst Syrian refugee influx. The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) on Friday morning pleaded for more emergency funding after a total of 2,000 refugees have arrived to the Kurdistan Region since Monday to escape the ongoing Turkish military assault on northern Syria. Hoshang Mohammed, Director General of the JCC, said they need "immediate emergency funding for the required preparations to manage the influx of refugees and provide basic life-saving assistance to those who just arrived". |
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| Thursday 17th October, 2019. The Islamic State (IS) has recently slaughtered six shepherds in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk. The militants killed six shepherds and beheaded five of them in the town of Yaichi, in Kirkuk province. |
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| Wednesday 16th October, 2019. First wave of Syrian refugees fleeing to Kurdistan Region reaches nearly 1000.The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) announced that on late Tuesday night, 472 new Syrian refugees had arrived in the Kurdistan Region to escape the ongoing Turkish military assault on Northern Syria. This brings the total number since Monday, when they began crossing, to 930. "We have made the proper preparations in coordination with the Board of Relief and Humanities Affairs in Duhok to receive the refugees" he added, explaining that they would be transferred to settle in Bardarash camp. |
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| Friday 27th September, 2019. Three Kurdish citizens, Rokan Namiq, Omran Namiq and Adnan Ghayib were killed in Mekhas village, Khanaqin by an ISIS terrorist group. Khanaqin is one of the Kurdish towns that Iranian-backed militias invaded almost two years ago and afterwards let ISIS return. |
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| Thursday 26th September, 2019. Local citizen, Ahmed Khalaf was found dead in the village of Goli Tapa in Southern Kirkuk. Ahmed Khalaf had been abducted by the Iranian-backed militias two days earlier. |
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| Tuesday 24th September, 2019. Several mortar shells were fired at a base belonging to the Iraqi federal police forces (Iranian backed militias, Hashd al-Shaabi), in Kirkuk's Riyaz sub-district late yesterday night. A security source said "several mortar shells were fired at the headquarters of the Iraqi federal police's mechanics division in Riyaz without causing any injuries. An investigation has started at the site where the mortar shells exploded". |
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| Sunday 22nd September, 2019. As many as 60 head of cattle have been killed when a barn and several homes were set ablaze following an armed attack by unknown gunmen in Khanaqin's Ali Sabahi village. |
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| Friday 20th September, 2019. A member of Iraqi federal police was killed and 2 others including a high ranking officer were injured in a roadside bomb blast that targeted their patrol in Gharib village in Kirkuk's southern Abbasi sub-district. |
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| Friday 20th September, 2019. The PUK has expressed objection to a decision by the Iraqi Prime Minister to form a special committee for the provincial elections in Kirkuk which did not include members of the Kurdish, Turkmen or Christian component. |
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| Monday 16th September, 2019. Two Iraqi Policemen were killed in a bomb explosion near Rashad village southwest of Kirkuk. The current governor Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri brought ISIS families to the town and this is the results. |
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| Sunday 15th September, 2019. Karzan Asaad who used to live in Chaghmagha village near Dubiz in Kirkuk was abducted yesterday by an anonymous group and this morning he was found dead, his body showing signs of electrocution as cause of death. Every week Kurds in Kirkuk get abused and abducted for racial discrimination purposes, we need the Peshmerga forces back to stop these demographic changes against the Kurds. |
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| Friday 13th September, 2019. Iraqi government with the current racist governor of Kirkuk keep bringing ISIS families to increase the Arabs population in Kirkuk and make more demographic changes. |
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| Wednesday 11th September, 2019. Iraqi government keeps bringing ISIS families to Kirkuk to increase Arab population in the town and to make a demographic changes. Those people when they settle down, they will start terrorist attacks against the Kurds to push more of them out and Arabs families only will stay. |
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| Tuesday 10th September, 2019. The Iranian backed militias decorate the main streets of Kirkuk with their banners, earlier this month they decorated all their checkpoints in the same banners. This demographic changes should stop, we the Kurds are fed up with it they stop us having our flags and banners, non of those people are from Kirkuk they are all from Southern Iraq. |
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| Sunday 8th September, 2019. Three bombs have exploded in Kirkuk today. Two people have been killed and many others have been injured. |
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| Thursday 5th September, 2019. Aram Jalil is a Kurdish farmer was working in his farm which is located in Lailan and suddenly two Arabic speaking gunmen attacked him and he was left with serious head injuries. Again American government should let the Peshmerga return to Kirkuk to protect and stop this oppression against the Kurds. |
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| Wednesday 4th September, 2019. A video has been released on social media of the Iranian backed militias and Iraqi forces recently killing dogs in Kirkuk, brutally. |
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| Tuesday 3rd September, 2019. The Racist governor of Kirkuk, Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri bring ISIS families and register them to participate in the next upcoming election to increase Arabs population in Kirkuk. ISIS is taking over Kirkuk officially with cooperation of Iraqi government after they have failed invading. |
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| Thursday 29th August, 2019. A huge fire has broken out at the North Oil Company in Kirkuk. The thick black smoke from the fire has polluted the air in the city. The Iraqi Authorities are trying to control it. |
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| Tuesday 27th August, 2019. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in Shirak, a Kurdish village in Khanaqin in an attack by an ISIS group. Khanaqin is one of the Kurdish towns that Iranian backed militias invaded them almost two years ago, they let ISIS families back and kicked out the Kurds from it, so this is the result. |
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| Sunday 25th August, 2019. The son of Aso Jalal an Asayesh (Kurdistan Region internal security forces) killed in an ISIS attack last month died in hospital on Sunday 25th August, 2019, due to what family members have called "heartbreak". Bryar Jalal, aged 4, had been living with Type 1 diabetes. His condition is said to have worsened after the death of his father. Bryar died while receiving specialist care at the Shar Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU), according to doctor Yad Naqshbandi, "Bryar's blood sugar had risen dramatically, probably because of the trauma he had suffered after his father was martyred". |
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| Sunday 25th August, 2019. Rockets fell on a football stadium in the Zain al-Abdeen village in the town of Daquq south of Kirkuk late Saturday night. Six people were killed and four others were wounded by the rockets, according to Daquq Mayor, Sheikh Lewis Findi. The rockets fell on a local football stadium, when the young men were playing, most of the casualties were young men, and one was a police officer. |
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| Sunday 18th August, 2019. ISIS has bombed a village affiliated to the disputed Khanaqin district between Baghdad and Erbil with mortar shells, a security source said today. The source told Shafaq News that "ISIS bombed late yesterday night, Mubarak village affiliated to Khanaqin district in Diyala province by mortar shells." The source did not mention the extent of the losses caused by the mentioned shelling. |
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| Thursday 15th August, 2019. Anonymous militia in a BMW car have shot and seriously injured Kurdish Peshmerga soldier "Ibrahim Muhammed" near his house in Shorja district. The Peshmerga forces should go back to Kirkuk to protect the Kurds. |
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| Wednesday 14th August, 2019. Iraqi forces / Iranian-backed militias destroyed all the properties of the Kurdish hawkers in the town without giving them any warnings. The American government should encourage that the Peshmerga forces to go back to Kirkuk to protect the Kurds to stop the opression against them. |
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| Tuesday 13th August, 2019. ISIS members have joined the ranks of the Badr and Asaib Ahl al-Haq forces in the disputed Kufri district between Erbil and Baghdad, a Peshmerga official said yesterday. "According to the information available to us, dangerous elements of ISIS have been involved in two ranks of the Popular Mobilization Units in the Kufri district" he said, adding that "the two factions are Badr forces and Asaib Ahl al-Haq" he pointed out "that these elements are targeting Kurdish villages in Jalawla and surrounding areas". |
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| Wednesday 7th August, 2019. Three attacks in four days by ISIS terrorist groups, another attack targeted the Iranian-backed militias in Alburgulia village near Hawija one militia member was killed and two others were seriously injured. Two days ago ISIS killed two Iraqi federal police officers in Daquq, and last night there was also another attack in Daquq. |
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| Monday 5th August, 2019. Iranian backed militias blocked the road between Mosul and Erbil and clashes occurred with the Iraqi forces. The Iraqi forces want to take control of the area and the Iranian backed militias refused! When you give weapons to the wrong people, this is the result. |
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| Thursday 1st August, 2019. Islamic State (ISIS) militants from Tuz Khurmatu killed four Kurdish security (Asayesh) members and wounded eight others (including 2 civilians) in an assault on a checkpoint near Kifri south of Kirkuk during last night. ISIS launched the attack in the beginning with mortar shells, then as Kurdish Counter-Terror Group forces rushed to repel them a landmine which the militants had laid targeted a vehicle of the counter terror forces and killed two of its members. |
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| Wednesday 31st July, 2019. The Martyrs Foundation has published more images of items found in a mass grave of 171 Kurdish Anfal victims in the Samawa desert. It's imperative to expose the depravity of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime. These images are heartbreaking. Yet on the same day, officers from the Iraqi army prevented relatives of the perished people to carry the flag of Kurdistan. |
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| Saturday 27th July, 2019. Another Kurdish populated village in south of Kirkuk province came under a rocket attack reportedly by the Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Earlier the week, the villages of Dara and Topzawa, on the outskirt of Daquq, were attacked by the IS jihadists. Hiwa Rashid, a KDP local representative in Daquq, said that the village of Mansour was attacked yesterday at around 23:00 (local time) with multiple rocket fires. He said preliminary reports show there were no casualties after the attack. |
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| Saturday 27th July, 2019. A bomb blast in a village in Kirkuk's Daquq district killed two members of a family last night. An improvised explosive device hit a shepherd family of nine near Bashir village, killing two people and wounding the seven others. |
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| Friday 26th July, 2019. Residents of Topzawa Kakei village in Daquq town, southern Kirkuk assess damages after 10 mortar shells hit the village late yesterday night. Villagers are currently trying to defend the village themselves as IS militants repeatedly attacks them. IS activities is on the increase, the Peshmerga really need to return to help secure the area. |
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| Thursday 25th July, 2019. Iraqi federal police were accused of killing nine members of the same family in the Daquq area of southern Kirkuk after mistaking them for Islamic State (IS) jihadists, yesterday evening after a mortar attack by unknown militia. A two-year-old child sustained injuries but survived. "The Iraqi federal police mistakenly thought the van was carrying IS jihadists, and as such killed all of them" Shiekh Lewis Sindi, mayor of Daquq, said today. |
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| Wednesday 24th July, 2019. In the district of Quq south of Kirkuk mortar shells were fired late evening by unknown militias resulting in 1 innocent persons death and several others injured (4 from 1 family). The responsible thing would be for the British and American governments to request that the Peshmerga return to Kirkuk to protect the Kurds as it is this that they request to help stabilise and secure these areas, which clearly are still not safe! |
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| Wednesday 24th July, 2019. A group of 7 IS militants murdered two Yazidi men, Hussein Khalef Hussein, 51, and Haji Hammo Hassan, 34, after they went hunting birds near the empty village of Khana Shwahnia near Sinjar this afternoon. The group were pursued and after fighting against YPS (Kurdish Civilian Protection Units) and Yazidi soldiers, 2 of them were shot and killed, and another killed himself by detonating an explosive belt, and the remaining militants managed to flee. |
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| Tuesday 23rd July, 2019. A mass grave unearthed 23rd July, in Iraq's Samawa city is believed to contain the remains of Kurdish civilians buried alive during the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime's Anfal campaign. Traditional Kurdish clothes in the grave along with the remains of the bodies, investigators believe the victims were from the Garmiyan area, (located south of the Kurdistan Region's Sulaimani province). The remains of 171 bodies were discovered, the majority appear to be women and children. Two more mass graves have been found in the locality. |
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| Monday 22th July, 2019. Roadside bomb attacks in the past five days have resulted 11 casualties in Jalawla, a sub-district of Diyala's disputed Khanaqin, raising concern about authorities' ability to maintain security in the area. The latest attack occurred late yesterday evening after mortar shells fired from unknown locations fell on houses of civilians. The Kurdish people that live in the locality are pleading that the Peshmerga are allowed to return to restore the security and stability of the area. |
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| Thursday 18th July, 2019. Today, Turkish warplanes bombarded border areas of the Kurdistan Region's district of Amedi in Duhok province, wounding three civilians. The shelling caused material damage to the site of the shelling and its surroundings. This led the villagers to flee their village and go to the cities leaving their homes, farms and animals. |
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| Wednesday 17th July, 2019. The civil organization committee in disputed Khanaqin and its surrounding areas has launched a campaign to gather signatures to support the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. The campaign began as a result of the dire security situation in the disputed town and its surrounding villages. It has gathered over 3,000 signatures in 24 hours. The area was under the protection of Peshmerga troops, but following the Oct. 16, 2017, attack and military takeover by Iraqi forces and Shia militias, the region has witnessed increased instability. |
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| Tuesday 16th July, 2019. 2 civilians were killed by unknown gunmen believed to be IS militants in an attack on a village in southwestern Kirkuk's Riyadh sub-district late yesterday The Kurdish people that live in Kirkuk are pleading that the Peshmerga are allowed to return to restore the security and stability of the area. |
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| Thursday 11th July, 2019. Two people were killed and another was wounded by a bomb blast in the Domiz neighbourhood of Kirkuk city yesterday night. The explosion was reportedly caused by a bomb on a booby-trapped motorbike. The security forces and ambulances rushed to the scene and evacuated the wounded to the hospital and transported the deceased to the forensic department. |
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| Friday 28th June, 2019. 2 people were killed, 2 others wounded (all of the same family) by a bomb (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion this morning in Um Gasir village in Kirkuk's southwestern Hawija district. The Kurdish people that live in the locality are pleading that the Peshmerga are allowed to return to restore the security and stability of the area. |
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| Thursday 27th June, 2019. At least four people (3 children and their father) were killed and five others wounded when an airstrike by Turkish warplanes hit a civilian vehicle in the village of Bardakuran, in Sangasar sub-district of Sulaimaniya province, this evening. Muhammad Hassan, co-chair of the Qandil administration said "We do not know about the exact number of casualties due to continuous flying by the warplanes" he asserted "there are no PKK fighters at the site where the airstrike took place, just civilians". |
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| Friday 21st June, 2019. In Khanaqin today at least three citizens were wounded when a suicide bomber threw a grenade into a cafe but his full planned attack was foiled by a young man that noticed him acting suspiciously and called out, the suicide bomber killed himself throwing the grenade before managing to detonate his vest. We blame the Iraqi forces / Iranian-backed militias for what happens to the Kurdish towns because they invaded our towns and do not let the Peshmerga forces intervene. |
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Crimes Against Kurds
