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Gunmen storm Iraq Kurdish governor’s office, killing one
ARBIL, Iraq, July 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Three gunmen on Monday stormed the
governor’s headquarters in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, opening
fire and killing one employee before being shot dead, officials said.
Initial reports said two gunmen had stormed the building in Arbil in the
early morning and had shot and wounded a policeman.
But as the day unfolded the toll rose to one employee killed and several
members of the security forces wounded as Kurdish security forces exchanged
fire with the attackers, the officials said.
“An employee was killed in the assault on the provincial headquarters,”
Arbil governor Nawzad Hadi told a news conference.
Deputy police chief for the Kurdish autonomous region Farhad Mohammed said
“several members of the security forces were wounded”, but did not give a
specific toll.
Mohammed said the three gunmen had been “neutralised” after a four-hour
exchange of fire with Kurdish security forces.
He described the assault as a “terrorist” attack but stopped short of
blaming any particular group for storming the governor’s headquarters.
An AFP correspondent near the building said he heard heavy gunfire and a
loud explosion, probably from a hand grenade.
Deputy governor Taher Abdullah had earlier said that Kurdish security
forces known as the Asayish had set up a security cordon and were searching
the building for the assailants.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the
usually secure Kurdish regional capital and its motives were unclear.
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed a deadly attack on the interior
ministry in Arbil in 2015.
The previous year the group was blamed for a suicide bombing that killed
at least four people outside the Arbil Provincial Council Building.
Iraq declared victory over IS in December but the jihadists still hold
pockets of territory and continue to carry out deadly attacks.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters took part in the battle against IS after it
launched a 2014 offensive in Iraq, seizing nearly a third of the country.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1739 hrs