Official : ISIS blows up oil wells in Iraq to kill police

Militants on Wednesday killed a policeman before berating two oil wells in Kirkuk, a northern province claimed by both Iraq’s federal and therefore the Kurds, officials said.

A security official told AFP that “ISIS assailants” killed a policeman and “wounded two others”

The attackers then “blew up wells 177 and 183 at the Bay Hassan field,” the oil ministry said during a statement.

The first fire was “brought in check in record time”, but “firemen are still active at the second” well several hours after the attack, the ministry added.

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk, home to key oilfields including Bay Hassan, in June 2014 after federal forces withdrew within the face of an ISIS offensive.

In late 2017, Baghdad officially claimed victory against ISIS, after a grinding campaign supported by a US-led coalition.

But the Kurds — who run an autonomous government in Erbil — and therefore the federal dispute ownership of Kirkuk’s lucrative oilfields.

ISIS maintains a capability to perpetrate attacks, operating mainly in the dark and sometimes exploiting the discord between Baghdad and Erbil.