ISIS takes control of Kirkuk

The Al-Qaida linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has assumed control over areas in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, Iraqi security sources reported late yesterday.

Sources from the Kirkuk police said “the armed organisation, ISIS assumed control of the government and security buildings in the Zab Hawija area, west of Kirkuk, and the areas of Riyadh, Abbasi and Rashad.”

The sources pointed out that “the first administrative unit in the province of Kirkuk to fall under insurgents control in afternoon was Zab Hawija on the banks of the Tigris River and a border strip linked to the Baiji province in the south, Shurkat in the west, Makhmour in the north and Hawija and Kirkuk to the east.”

The sources said: “The security forces stationed there from the army and the police left their posts allowing ISIS elements to enter then without a fight.”

Hawija Governer Hussein Ali Saleh confirmed the news saying “the province has fallen under ISIS control.”