Altun Kupri residents call for Peshmerga return after militants killed

KIRKUK — Residents of Altun Kupri, known in Kurdish as Pirde, called on Saturday for Peshmerga forces to return to the subdistrict, saying security there had broken down, a day after an army airstrike killed three suspected Isis militants nearby.

The army’s aviation arm carried out the strike at 8 p.m. Friday and forces arrested the person who had transported the three, the Security Media Cell said. The army had sealed every road into Altun Kupri after a pickup truck believed to be carrying Isis members entered the subdistrict, which lies on the road between Kirkuk and Erbil.

“The situation in Pirde is bad,” resident Sheikh Latif told 964media. “For several years, a hostile hand and enemies of the Kurds have come into the area, and besides kidnapping farmers and then releasing them for money, they have taken to bringing terrorists and saboteurs into the area from time to time.”

Another resident, Zraz Fazil, blamed all the incidents on a security vacuum between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga. The best solution was for the Peshmerga to return to the area, he said.

The man arrested on Friday is from Mosul and worked as a guard at a farmer’s orchard in Altun Kupri, a military source told 964media on Saturday. He had acted as a guide for the militants in the area that night, the source said. After the clash, the commander of the Kirkuk Operations Command ordered that anyone not originally from Altun Kupri may no longer stay in its villages, according to the source.

Peshmerga forces withdrew from Altun Kupri on Oct. 20, 2017, after fighting with advancing federal forces, as Baghdad took control of Kirkuk governorate following the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum. Federal forces have held the subdistrict since.

Militants have used the area before. In 2024, a Kurdish farmer abducted near Altun Kupri by men claiming to be Isis members was freed after nearly a month in captivity after a ransom was paid, sources told 964media at the time. Security officials then cited poor coordination between Kurdish and Iraqi forces as one reason for such attacks along the line between the two forces.

In September, federal and Kurdistan Region officials agreed to activate two joint coordination brigades to stop Isis remnants and smuggling networks exploiting gaps between federal and Peshmerga forces, Security Media Cell head Lt. Gen. Saad Maan said at the time.

The Islamic State group lost control of territory in Iraq in 2017, but suspected members still operate through sleeper cells and small units, particularly in rural and remote areas.