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Should-be allies remain rivals in Iraq’s disputed territories

Power struggles between factionalized security forces in northern Iraq have left security gaps that insurgents continue to exploit.
Iraqi forces drive toward Kurdish Peshmerga positions on Oct. 15, 2017, on the southern outskirts of Kirkuk. [AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images]

A guard was killed and four others injured by a gunman at the Barham Group's refinery project in Kirkuk province last week, the third such attack there this year, and one of hundreds of acts of violence in a security vacuum worsened by conflict between Iraqi security forces who are supposed to protect the country's infrastructure and people.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the first attack on the refinery; no one has claimed the other two. In the latest, assailants used heavy machine guns and “various small arms,” said Barham Group spokesperson Hawkar Ali.

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