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Workers, oil field survive IS assault

IS fighters launched a multi-pronged assault on Kirkuk area villages and oil infrastructure, but they were ultimately repelled, and hostages survived by tricking the militants.
Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers at the Khabbaz oil field after regaining control after an assault by militants from the so-called Islamic State group. (KAMARAN AL-NAJAR/Iraq Oil Report)

KHABBAZ - The 22 workers at the Khabbaz oil field faced two options: feign allegiance to the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group, or die.

At dawn on Friday, IS militants had raided the field as part of a seemingly coordinated, multi-pronged offensive that lasted until Sunday, leaving scores dead and taking the 20,000 bpd field offline. In addition to Khabbaz, located east of the Bai Hassan oil field in Kirkuk's Daquq district, IS fighters attacked – and were ultimately defeated – in Kirkuk city and several towns along the Kurdistan region's southern border.

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