SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Clashes erupted between Iraqi army and Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Jalawla district in Diyala province late on Monday, a Kurdish security official said on Tuesday morning.
Islamic State (ISIS) militants carried out an attack against Iraqi military stationed on Halwan bridge in Jalawla on Monday night, Esta Media Network reporter in Garmian Zimnako Yahyayee said.
The reporter added that the ISIS militants had also attacked Jalawla bridge, a hospital and a power station as well as a neighborhood in the district.
Director of Asayish (security) in Kulajo sub-district Shamal Abdulrahman told Esta Media Network late on Monday that that ISIS militants used sniper and mortar shells in their attack.
The Iraqi military responded to the attack and clashes erupted between both sides, he added.
Casualties remained unclear.
Jalawla, or Gulala in Kurdish language, is a disputed area claimed by both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
ISIS militants intermittently carry out attacks against Iraqi forces in the disputed areas.
On Jan. 5, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in an ISIS attack in Jalawla.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December 2017 but the militants have regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range which extends into the northern provinces – an area described by officials as a “triangle of death”.
*This story was updated at 10:58 p.m. EBL time
