Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi held the security services responsible for failing to prevent attacks by ISIS militants that killed at least 16 policemen and soldiers in northern Iraq on Sunday.
Chairing an emergency meeting of the National Security Council after the attacks, Mr Al Kadhimi said that despite the “weakness of the enemy, mismanagement and shortcomings of military leaders sometimes lead to security breaches”, according to a statement released by his office.
He blamed a lack of co-ordination among security agencies and ordered them to improve their intelligence gathering, the statement said.
He also ordered the formation of a committee to look into security breaches and find ways to to prevent them.
At least 13 policemen were killed and five wounded when militants attacked a Federal Police outpost in the Al Rashad area south-west of Kirkuk city, medical and security officials said.
The Federal Police said the policemen fought off the militants for about two hours.
Members of the force shared a video on social media showing the bodies of colleagues lying on the ground, with some beheaded. They said the policemen ran out of ammunition, and blamed the Joint Military Operations Command for ignoring calls for reinforcements.
The other attack, at a military checkpoint in Makhmour, south-east of Mosul, killed three soldiers and wounded at least one, a police officer said.
Oil-rich Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians. The ethnically-mixed province, long claimed by both the Arab-led central government and the autonomous Kurdish region, is considered a tinderbox.
The prime minister's office said Mr Al Kadhimi accused some parties of “creating sedition [in Kirkuk] especially as we are approaching a decisive election”, without naming them.
Iraq is preparing to hold a general election on October 10.
Mr Al Kadhimi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered “pre-emptive operations to prevent [ISIS] sleeper cells from regrouping and repeating the same security breaches”, the statement added.
The extremist group held much of northern and western Irag from mid-2014 until government forces supported by a US-led global anti-ISIS coalition and Iraqi militias regained the territory in late 2017.
However, ISIS sleeper cells still carry out sporadic attacks in remote areas and the capital, Baghdad.
In January, two suicide bombers killed at least 32 people and wounded 110 in a busy commercial area near Baghdad's Tayaran Square.
Six months later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded outdoor market in Baghdad's eastern district of Sadr City, killing at least 30 and wounding dozens of others.
The latest attacks raise questions about the ability of Iraqi forces to maintain security during elections next month and after the planned withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
The US has 2,500 troops among the 3,500 members of the international anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, down from about 5,000 a year ago.
Also on Sunday, a roadside bomb killed a senior leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, Hassan Karim, in the Jurf Al Sakhar area south of Baghdad. Two guards in his convoy were injured, according to the Popular Mobilisation Forces, the grouping of government-sanctioned militias that fought against ISIS. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Who is Tim-Berners Lee?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
SANCTIONED
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
