Militants held off police from their rooftop position on six-storey Jawahir mall in Kirkuk overnight, throwing down grenades and firing on officers and civilians who tried to flee the fighting. Officers raided the mall on Thursday morning before dawn, killing the militants, said Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir, Kirkuk’s police commander.
No security forces or civilians were wounded in that fighting, Brig. Gen. Qadir said, though it left large portions of the mall burned. Eleven storekeepers hid inside the mall during the attack, scared to leave, he said.
The fighting in Kirkuk began on Wednesday, when authorities said a car bomb exploded at the gates of the Police Intelligence Department. A suicide bomber on foot entered the station and detonated his explosives after that, officials said. The gunmen on the mall’s roof then opened fire down on the station, they said. The police station attack killed five officers and two civilians, while wounding some 70 people, Brig. Gen. Qadir said.
A similar style attack on Tuesday on a mayor’s office in Tarmiyah killed 10 people, officials said. Meanwhile on Thursday, police said gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed the house of a police major in Arej village just south of Mosul, about 350 km northwest of Baghdad.
No security forces or civilians were wounded in that fighting, Brig. Gen. Qadir said, though it left large portions of the mall burned. Eleven storekeepers hid inside the mall during the attack, scared to leave, he said.
The fighting in Kirkuk began on Wednesday, when authorities said a car bomb exploded at the gates of the Police Intelligence Department. A suicide bomber on foot entered the station and detonated his explosives after that, officials said. The gunmen on the mall’s roof then opened fire down on the station, they said. The police station attack killed five officers and two civilians, while wounding some 70 people, Brig. Gen. Qadir said.
A similar style attack on Tuesday on a mayor’s office in Tarmiyah killed 10 people, officials said. Meanwhile on Thursday, police said gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed the house of a police major in Arej village just south of Mosul, about 350 km northwest of Baghdad.