Battle of Kirkuk (2016)

Battle of Kirkuk (2016)
Part of the War in Iraq (2013–2017)
Location within Iraq
Date 21–24 October 20162 (3 days) Location Kirkuk, Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq Result Kurdish victory
Belligerents
Kurdistan Region PKK1 CJTF-OIR United States	Islamic State
Commanders and leaders
Brig. Simko Rabati3 (Kirkuk security commander) Idris Rafaat3 (Kirkuk security official) Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir3 (suburban police chief) Polad Talabani4 (Peshmerga Counterterrorism Group commander) Lahur Talabany4 (head of Zanyari)5	Abu Islam (POW)4 (operations leader)2 Abu Qudama †6 (Kirkuk raid commander) Nizar Mahmud Abdul Ghani (POW)7
Units involved
Kurdistan Region Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Kurdistan Democratic Party Peshmerga Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG)4 Asayish6 Parastin u Zanyari4 Ministry of Interior Popular Mobilization Forces 16th Turkmen Brigade Kirkuk civilian vigilantes8	Military of ISIL Kirkuk sleeper cells2 Inghimasi fighters 9
Strength
Unknown	100 militants2
Casualties and losses
76 killed4	84 killed4 and several captured2
21 civilians killed, 265+ security forces members and civilians wounded overall4

The Battle of Kirkuk took place in the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq between Kurdistan and allies and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.¹ The battle occurred less than a week after the beginning of the Battle of Mosul launched by Iraqi security forces and allies.

On 21 October 2016, dozens of ISIL militants and suicide bombers, supported by local sleeper cells,² entered Kirkuk and stormed a power station and police stations in the city, killing 18 members of security forces and power station workers, including 2–5¹⁰ Iranian workers. The ISIL militants captured a mosque and an abandoned hotel and barricaded themselves inside.¹¹ Hours later, ISIL captured 2 more hotels and holed themselves in. Over 20 ISIL militants were killed,¹⁰ as security forces recaptured most of the buildings.³

By the next day, ISIL forces still held parts of the Aruba District and a hotel,⁸ though these were retaken later on. Government forces then began a mop-up operation to clear the city of remaining militants, with some of the latter blowing themselves as they were cornered.¹² Many local civilians had also taken up arms, hunting, capturing and killing ISIL fighters.⁸

On the third day of the battle, several remaining ISIL militants attempted to flee the city, with five being killed¹³ and the ISIL operations leader captured by security forces.² On 24 October, the last ISIL fighters in Kirkuk were killed, including the raid commander Abu Qudama, a senior ISIL military figure of Hawija,⁶ so that the governor of Kirkuk, Nadschmeddin Karim, could declare the city completely cleared of militants.² On the next day, security forces arrested Nizar Mahmud Abdul Ghani, a cousin of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, for having participated in the Kirkuk raid.⁷