Iraqi prime minister survives mortar attack in Kirkuk

BAGHDAD

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Friday narrowly missed being killed by mortar fire that struck an area he had visited only minutes earlier in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province, according to a military source.

"Al-Abadi had visited a military site in the Maktab Khalid area in a southwestern district of Kirkuk city," Captain Ahmed Zeidan, an Iraqi army officer, told Anadolu Agency.

"Only minutes after his departure, the site was hit by three mortar shells," he said.

According to Zeidan, the mortar fire had originated from areas held by the Daesh terrorist group.

The mortar attack did not lead to any casualties among security personnel, the officer noted.

Al-Abadi, accompanied by a military delegation, arrived in Kirkuk earlier Thursday to inspect positions held by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Speaking to Peshmerga officers, al-Abadi said that his visit had come in advance of planned operations to retake Kirkuk’s Hawija district -- and the rest of the province -- from Daesh.

Daesh has remained in control of southern Kirkuk since 2014.

*Reporting by Ali Jawad; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat