Heavy Fighting in Kirkuk, Gunmen Seize Intelligence Compound

[Piling]

KIRKUK – Five people were killed and dozens more wounded on Wednesday as gunmen attacked the intelligence headquarters in Kirkuk, the police said.

“The fight is very intense and the terrorists have heavy weapons,” Kirkuk districts police chief, Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw.

Rudaw correspondent on the scene said that the gunmen had taken position inside the intelligence compound and snipers fired on security and police forces from the rooftop.

“Because of the snipers, we could not launch an attack on the intelligence office during the day and we had to wait till nightfall," said Lieutenant Colonel Azad Ramazan.

Sabah Amin, head of Kirkuk department of health said that five people were killed in the confrontation, among them security officers and first aid responders, and more than 60 people were injured.

As the fighting continued anti-terror forces were sent from the autonomous Kurdistan Region to help the local police flush out the gunmen.

"Kurdish anti-terror forces have been dispatched to Kirkuk at the request of Kirkuk security officials," said Lahor Sheikh Jangi, the head of Kurdistan intelligence department.

The gunmen managed to storm and control the intelligence headquarters after they attacked with suicide bombers and heavy gunfire.

Ahmad Askari, head of Kirkuk provincial security committee said that the security forces have managed to free 11 people who were taken hostage by the gunmen.

Brigadier Qadir said that some of the gunmen had withdrawn into the neighborhood from where they engaged the security forces in a street fight.

“The fighting has died down and police and security forces are now in control of the intelligence compound,” Salah Dalo, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official in Kirkuk told Rudaw.

As some of the victims were sent to Erbil hospitals, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said, "The security situation in Kirkuk and the rest of Iraq has worsened and the KRG is ready to cooperate with all parties to confront terrorism,"

Earlier in the day reports came out that Kurdish Peshmerga forces had been sent to Kirkuk to help local security forces. But the ministry spokesman Jabbar Yawar said, "No Peshmerga forces are inside Kirkuk, otherwise they can control the situation in a case like this," - See more at: http://rudaw.net/NewsDetails.aspx?PageI ... dECHi.dpuf

[Piling]

https://www.facebook.com/RudawEnglish/p ... 6074619967

"Jawahir mall in #Kirkuk is under control and we are working to extinguish the fire caused by a suicide bomber," says #Kurdistan Intelligence chief Lahor Sheikh Jangi.

Interesting report of events, with videos :

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/12/04/al-q ... 0-injured/

[kardox]

Arab terrorist filming and describing the initial truck suicide bomb.
This was planned into detail

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=61 ... =2&theater

[kardox]

another video, this is the mall after the security forces claimed it back. The man in the end of the clip is a shop owner, he was hiding in his own shop under a table until he got rescued.

http://rudaw.net/sorani/kurdistan/051220136

[Londoner]

Apparently Kirkuk Security Forces knew about the attack in time. But it seems they were not ready enough.

http://peyamner.com/PNAnews.aspx?ID=326616

[Anthea]

Kirkuk Now

Eyewitness tells story of armed clashes in downtown Mall. Sabah Ali, one of the hostages in the Jawahir Mall during the heavy clashes of December 4 between a group of gunmen and the security forces of Kirkuk has told the story of how the gunmen entered the mall and took control of the building.

Sabah Ali, one of the hostages in the Jawahir Mall during the heavy clashes of December 4 between a group of gunmen and the security forces of Kirkuk has told the story of how the gunmen entered the mall and took control of the building.


Jawahir Mall before the deadly clashes, photo; Kirkuk Now

At 1:00 pm on December 4, two heavily-armed gunmen with sniper rifles, various other types of weaponry and hand grenades entered the Jawahir Mall and held 11 persons as hostages, among them was Sabah Ali.

Sabah Ali, who is a janitor at the mall, told Kirkuk Now “The two gunmen were speaking in Arabic, and they took us all to the second floor of the building, pointed their guns at us and threatened us with death.”

“They locked us in one of the rooms on the second floor and told us to keep silent or else they would kill us. They went upstairs; we saw only those two gunmen,” Ali added.

The five-story Jawahir Mall, which sells women’s and children’s clothing and cosmetics, was evacuated immediately after the entry of the gunmen.

After the car bomb blasts in front of the Iraqi Intelligence Service at 1:34 pm, the two gunmen started shooting at the security forces from the mall which is opposite to the Iraqi Intelligence Service building.

Sabah and the other hostages could only hear the gunfire and shouting from the clashes which lasted for several hours, as he and the other hostages were locked in the room until 6:30 pm when security forces broke into the room and freed them.

There was a continuous exchange of gunfire between the security forces and the two gunmen and the building was not under control from 1:00 pm up to 12:30 am.

The Counter Terrorism Unit and security forces from Sulaymaniah were sent to Kirkuk to control the situation. After several hours of heavy exchanges of gunfire between the forces and the two gunmen, finally one of them was killed and the situation was brought under control when the second gunmen blew himself up.

http://kirkuknow.com/english/index.php/ ... town-mall/