Erbil Attack: The One That Got Through

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Just before one of the suicide bombers detonated his explosives in Sunday’s attack in Erbil, one of the Asayish guards wrapped his arms around the terrorist and told his comrades to run.

In a way, that brave hero who took his own life to shield fellow Kurds is a literal example of how security forces and people in the autonomous Kurdish region are taking on a daily battle against terrorism to protect their burgeoning region and way of life.

Immediately after the guard seized the bomber, the other attackers were met by a large number of armed security forces who reacted quickly and efficiently to minimize the impact of the assault. In the end, all six attackers and as many guards were killed and 62 people were wounded.

Jeremy Oliver, director of operations for Erbil-based Zone Security System, revealed just how deep Kurdish efforts are in preventing any attacks like the one on Sunday.

“It’s been always ongoing. This is why the Kurdistan Region is quiet, because they stay on top of the intel,” Oliver said.

He added that the impact of Sunday’s attack had been very limited due to the preparedness of the security forces, who reportedly had half-a-battalion guarding the intelligence headquarters’ complex.

About two months ago, a Peshmarga official explained to Rudaw how terrorism was being tackled in the Kurdistan Region.

“Peshmarga and Asayish forces are infiltrating cells within the region and systematically halting any progression of attacks,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Here is what I like about the Kurdish region,” said Oliver. “If people see a car and don’t know whose car it is, the neighbors are going to walk to other neighbors and ask whose car it is. If nobody knows, they call Asayish, which will run your plates to find out who you are.”

Party Nzmy, assistant officer for Zone Security and also part of the Peshmarga forces in Kurdistan, added that Kurdish security forces detain suspected terrorists every week.

Just one day after the recent attack Asayish apprehended three suspects from Dream City and were searching for a yellow Opel Vectra with Baghdad plates that was suspected of having a car bomb. The forces were quickly able to stop the plan, but it is not clear if the car was found.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with South Korean help Kurdistan set up a five-checkpoint system for the seven entrance points that lead into Erbil.

Unlike the rest of Iraq, the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmarga military was not dismantled by the US forces, allowing the enclave to maintain security as the rest of Iraq drowned in violence. Over the past seven years there have been only three successful terrorist attacks in the Kurdish enclave.

This has allowed the Kurdish region to attract large investments and multinationals like Exxon and Chevron. It has been an astonishing feat, considering that to the south lies the rest of Iraq and to the west – in Syria – a civil war has been raging for more than two years.

Oliver said Kurdish security forces monitor all traffic coming through border checkpoints. If a car is found to have weapons or explosives the forces move the vehicle through as if nothing is wrong, but immediately notify the anti-terrorist units.

“By the time they get to the last checkpoint the anti-terrorism team is there to turn them into Swiss cheese. You never read anything about it in the papers or anything like this, but it eliminates the problem before it actually gets into Kurdistan,” he said.

According to Oliver, he used to live near Kirkuk Road, where one of the last checkpoints is and he “watched it happen a couple of times, “ saying it “sounds like world war three.”

One of the incidents which Oliver witnessed was when five trucks tried to enter Erbil and UN intelligence reports stated the trucks came from Iran with 200 kilograms of TNT and plastic explosives. Security forces at Erbil’s checkpoint were waiting.

“By the time they were done you couldn’t recognize what brand the truck was,” Oliver said.

According to Asayish, they knew about Sunday’s attack more than 10-days in advance. There has been some criticism in the Kurdish community over why nothing was done to stop the attack.

Nzmy said there has been some speculation that the attack was successful despite prior knowledge because the planners had used locals who had fought in Syria for al-Qaeda or other Islamist groups.

“Islamic parties took so many young Kurds to go for jihad -- so many went there and came back,” Nzmy said. “This is what people are thinking, that they used the same guys who went to Syria from Erbil, Sulaimani or Duhok, and they used them to help the terrorists enter Erbil.”

Comments


16 9 Kurdistanim | 21 hours ago
To my knowledge all barbarian jihadist attackers were Kurds, another reason to put am end to the Islamic superstition that brainwashed so many Kurds. I want my people to open their eyes and act in a civilized way. Here is a simple example that proofs quran was written by individuals who had no knowledge of science and astronomy, Surat Yasin, Ayat 40 (سورة الياسين، اية ٤) says لا الشمس ينبغي لها أن تدرك القمر ولا الليل سابق النهار وكل في فلك يسبحون Translation: ""It is not for Sun to overtake (surpass) the moon, nor the night outstrip the day, They float each in an orbit"". The person who wrote such a joke based on what he saw simply looking at the sky, he fully believed that the moon and the sun have the same size and they move in the same direction (so that they don't collide) and he also believed that they are at the same distance from the earth. Is this the science we want to teach out kids? Quran authors had no idea that the distance between Earth and the sun is 150 million km, the distance between Earth and the moon is 384.000 km, and the Sun is 4 million times bigger than moon. This is only a tiny example to tell that god did not write quran and quran did not come down from heaven.
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1 4 Amir | 19 hours ago
"According to Asayish, they knew about Sunday’s attack more than 10-days in advance. There has been some criticism in the Kurdish community over why nothing was done to stop the attack." I seriously hope that the families of the victims (PBUT) will not only question why the attacks actually took place, but will also bring the government to court where they will have to justify their inactivity. To me this sounds very fishy, pretending that the security forces didn't do enough to protect their own staff, and even more innocent civilians who must go to these hideous government and asaysh offices day after day. A proper democracy shouldn't allow this to happen.
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6 2 Soran Mohammed | 18 hours ago
@kurdistanim you will need to read this and understand the miracle instead of spreading your personal private opinion http://www.linguisticmiracle.com/gems/floating
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6 2 Show Kurdistan the Truth | 16 hours ago
The heroic efforts of our peshmarga and asayish should not be hidden from the public. Teach children in school about what it takes to keep them safe. Tell all of Kurdistan about the sacrifices these brave heroes have to make in order to keep Kurdistan safe. People who live in Kurdistan and enjoy the safety created by these forces should be ashamed of themselves if they voted for any of those Islamist parties. You want to live under an Islamist government then move to Iran or Saudi Arabia and rid Kurdistan of your filth. If the people of Kurdistan were shown the truth behind these Islamist parties, they would start setting their disgusting beards on fire.
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4 0 Steve | 15 hours ago
Amir, what does democracy have to do with security? It is not strange that they knew about the attack in advance. Most intelligence and security organizations in the world often have some clues about an attack, but the information or tip they have is patchy, needs verification, analysis because the sources vary. So in this case you don't know where and when the attack will happen. If you want to question the Kurdish security for what happened, then what about the hundreds of similar attacks that happen everywhere else in the world? Do the police and security in the world have to answer for every attack that happens? That makes no sense.