Iraqi prime minister visits site of Islamic State attack
Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with Kurdistan Region security forces in disputed Makhmour.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited a northern village today that was recently attacked by the Islamic State (IS).
Kadhimi went to the village of Liheban in the Makhmour district to meet local residents, his office tweeted.
The Islamic State (IS) attacked peshmerga forces and civilians on Dec. 3 in Makhmour, killing several. Makhmour, located about an hour south of Erbil, is claimed by both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Both Iraqi federal security forces and the KRG’s peshmerga forces have a presence in the area, and the population consists of Arab and Kurdish communities.
Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led coalition, defeated IS in 2017. But IS continues to carry out attacks, particularly in disputed territories like Makhmour. IS also attacked the peshmerga in northeast Diyala province three days in a row from Nov. 27-29.
