3 gunmen killed in Kirkuk clashes

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Three gunmen on Sunday were killed during armed clashes that erupted with security forces in the southwest of Kirkuk city, a local police chief said. “Today, clashes erupted between security forces and gunmen in the area between the districts of Sarkon and al-Riyadh (40 southwest of Kirkuk), during which three gunmen, including a wanted person called Naseef Jassem Mohammed, were killed,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told IraqiNews.com. Meanwhile, police forces defused an improvised explosive device (IED) planted near a checkpoint in Laylan district (10 km south of Kirkuk), without causing any casualties or damage, the brigadier added. Kirkuk, 250 km (156 miles) north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, sits on the ruins of a 5,000-year-old settlement. Because of the strategic geographical location of the city, Kirkuk was the battle ground for three empires, Assyria, Babylonia and Media which controlled the city at various times. Kirkuk is the centre of the northern Iraqi petroleum industry. It is a historically and ethnically mixed city populated by Assyrians, Kurds, Arabs and Iraqi Turkmen. The population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2008. SS (S) 1