ISIS is back in Iraq, targeting Kirkuk

Sherif Abdel-Zahir

Despite the announcement by the United States of America to eliminate ISIS in Iraq; and the killing of the organization’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, at the end of October 2019, the organization has strength in the areas under its control in the north of the country, targeting security and military sites.

The second leader in the international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, American General Alexus Greenwich, had warned of a great possibility of the return of ISIS in Iraq in January 2020, stressing that ISIS poses a great danger and still has the ability to reappear.

In a new development, the Iraqi News Agency announced on Saturday, April 11, 2020, that an explosive device targeted a car of a police colonel in the city of Kirkuk, which resulted in his injury.

The agency pointed out that a sticky explosive device was detonated by a car belonging to a colonel working in the Roads Affairs Department near the fourth bridge in the city center of Kirkuk, which resulted in injuries and material damage, and he was transferred to Kirkuk General Hospital for treatment.

The fingers point to the involvement of the individual ISIS wolves in carrying out the explosion, in response to the killing of their leader, Al-Baghdadi, and to deliver a message to the world that they will return strongly.

The explosion coincides with the passing of Iraq of a major political crisis over the formation of the new government, after it was nominated by 3 personalities, the last of whom was Mustafa al-Kazimi, head of the intelligence service, since June 2016.

In his turn, the researcher who specializes in the affairs of political Islam movements, Hisham Al-Najjar, said, “ISIS is taking advantage of the lawlessness and sectarian conflicts to launch terrorist operations in Iraq.”

In a special statement to the Reference, he stressed that Iraq is fertile ground for the Iranian-backed extremist terrorist organizations, expecting that the coming period in Iraq will witness a significant development and a high frequency of terrorist operations, in conjunction with the political crisis the country is going through, due to the formation of the government.