SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga said on Wednesday Islamic State (ISIS) militants had reorganized its militants due to a “security vacuum” between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi military.
ISIS militants attacked a unit of the Peshmerga forces in Kifri district in Diyala province late on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
A member of the Peshmerga forces was killed in the attack, the ministry added.
“We reaffirm that the movement of terrorists have increased and they have changed the way of attacking, and they always pose a threat,” the ministry said,
The ministry stressed that the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi military should reach a broad agreement to prevent ISIS attacks.
“The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces will not remain silent and will have a hard response in time,” it said.
The ministry of Peshmerga blamed the security gaps between the frontlines of the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi military.
Recently, ISIS militants have increased attacks against the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the disputed territories, claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil.
On May 1, the Peshmerga forces thwarted an ISIS attack near Prde town, south of Erbil. Three Peshmerga were killed and two others were wounded in the attack.
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”.
