Iraqi forces say 48 IS attackers killed in KirkukOctober 22, 2016 - 15:10 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraqi security forces have killed 48 of the gunmen who stormed parts of Kirkuk in a shock attack claimed by the Islamic State group, the northern city's police chief said, according to AFP. "Forty-eight Daesh (IS) terrorists have been killed in the clashes," Brigadier General Khattab Omar Aref told AFP, adding that some of them blew themselves up when the security forces cornered them. Special counter-terrorism and intelligence units were hunting down some of the dozens of IS fighters who stormed public buildings in the early hours of Friday, October 21. Clashes have been taking place almost uninterrupted since and the city, which lies some 240 kilometres north of Baghdad, remains under curfew. A senior interior ministry official said that at least 46 other people had been killed in the IS raid and ensuing clashes, mostly members of the security forces. "The security forces control the situation now but there are still pockets of jihadists in some southern and eastern neighbourhoods," Aref said, according to AFP. "We have foiled this large Daesh plot, which was to take control of government buildings, including security headquarters," he said. "They were denied just like they are being defeated on the outskirts of Mosul," the police chief said, in reference to the ongoing offensive by tens of thousands of Iraqi forces to wrest back the city of Mosul, IS's last major stronghold in Iraq. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |