ISIS raid in Iraq’s Kirkuk kills 46

Security forces battled for a second day on Saturday with Islamic State group gunmen who had infiltrated Kirkuk in a brazen raid on Friday, rattling Iraq as it ramped up an offensive to retake Mosul.

On the other hand, Iraqi federal forces moved into Qaraqosh on Saturday, said the joint operations’ command. Qaraqosh lies just east of Mosul and was Iraq’s largest Christian town before its population fled the jihadists in 2014.

Special counter-terrorism and intelligence units were deployed on Saturday to hunt down some of the dozens of IS fighters who stormed public buildings in Kirkuk on Friday.

“We have 46 dead and 133 wounded, most of them members of the security services, as a result of the clashes with Daesh (IS),” said an interior ministry brigadier general. The toll was confirmed by a source at the Kirkuk health directorate, which called for blood donations to assist with the emergency.

The Kirkuk police chief said 48 jihadist attackers had been killed so far and several others wounded, including a Libyan believed to be among the raid’s leaders. “The security forces control the situation now but there are still pockets of jihadists in some southern and eastern neighbourhoods,” said Brigadier General Khattab Omar Aref.

The large-scale “inghimasi” attack, a term describing jihadist operations in which gunmen, often wearing suicide vests, intend to sow chaos and fight to the death rather than achieve any military goal, caught Kirkuk off guard. Kirkuk lies in an oil-producing region at least 240 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Up to 1,000 people havebeen treated for breathing problems linked to fumes from asulphur plant set ablaze during fighting with Islamic State in northern Iraq and US officials say US forces at a nearby airfield are wearing protective masks.

A cloud of white smoke blanketed the area around the Mishraq sulphur plant, near Mosul, mingling with black fumes from oilwells that the militants torched to cover their moves. Local residents and the US military said Islamic State militants deliberately set the sulphur plant ablaze as they strive to repel an offensive by Iraqi government forces to drive them from Mosul.

Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq on Saturday to review the offensive, which his country and at least 60 other nations support.

His visit comes two days after a US service member was killed outside Mosul, underscoring the risk that American troops are taking as they advise Iraqi forces in the fight.

In his meetings in Baghdad on Saturday, he was expected to attempt to convince the government to lift its opposition to the participation of Turkish forces.