KIRKUK, Iraq
Iraqi peshmerga forces battling ISIL in Iraq took back the lost fields in southern Kirkuk and an oil well Saturday, a military officer has told The Anadolu Agency.
General Hiva Abdullah told AA that the southern part of Kirkuk has been freed from ISIL in an extensive operation Saturday after three days of heavy battles in the field.
He said Habbazah oil wells were of great significance for Iraq.
Kirkuk, with a population of over one million and having the country's 40 percent of oil reserves, has a strategic importance for Iraqi Kurdish people.
Iraqi peshmerga forces, as well as other Kurdish fighters, the Free Syrian army, and the U.S.-led international coalition have all been battling the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, through ground and air campaigns.
Abdullah said the warplanes have destroyed Saturday a number of ISIL’s armored vehicles.
Earlier Friday, three alleged ISIL suicide bombers attacked the Qasr Hotel in Kirkuk. Security forces were able to thwart the attack that left one of the bombers dead, while the other two were captured.
