SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani on Wednesday condemned Islamic State (ISIS) attack on Peshmerga forces in Kifri district, stressing the need to expedite coordination between Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
ISIS militants attacked a unit of the Peshmerga forces in Kifri district late on Tuesday, the ministry of Peshmerga said in a statement.
A member of the Peshmerga forces was killed in the attack, the ministry added.
“I strongly condemn last night’s attack of Daesh terrorists in Kifri,” Barzani said in a tweet, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.
“I stress the need to speed up coordination between the Peshmerga and Iraqi military in those areas,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry of Peshmerga said ISIS had reorganized its militants due to the “security vacuum” between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the disputed territories, claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil.
“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 in a statement.
“The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces will not remain silent and will have a hard response in time,” it added.
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”.
