Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption IS militants have been targeting buildings linked to the Iraqi government

Islamic State (IS) militants have mounted a ferocious counter-attack in north Iraq, killing at least 19 people in and around the city of Kirkuk.

They attacked government buildings, killing at least six police officers, and a power station under construction, where 13 employees died, officials say.

Twelve IS fighters also reportedly died and fighting seems to be continuing.

Government and Kurdish forces began a long-awaited operation against the IS capital in Iraq, Mosul, on Monday.

Mosul lies 170km (105 miles) to the north-west of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city claimed both by Iraq's central government and the Kurds.

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The BBC's Richard Galpin, in northern Iraq, said IS had attempted an "audacious" counter-attack on Kirkuk that had tried to show it was still a force to be reckoned with. The attack was "clearly aimed at diverting the Iraqi army" from Mosul, he said.

Hours after the initial assault, witnesses in Kirkuk said gunfire could still be heard and militants were walking openly through the streets.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kurdish forces joined Iraqi government forces in the operation against the attack in Kirkuk

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kurdish Peshmerga forces were said to be in full control of the situation

A state of emergency was declared and Friday sermons were cancelled as mosques remain closed.

A news agency affiliated to IS said fighters had broken into Kirkuk's city hall and seized a central hotel but officials denied this.

District police chief Brig Gen Sarhad Qadir told the BBC suicide bombers and other IS fighters had attacked three police buildings and the headquarters of a political party in Kirkuk.

"All of the militants who attacked the police emergency building and the old building of the Kirkuk police directorate have been killed but a number of other militants are still in Dumez district," he said.

The governor of Kirkuk, Najm al-Din Karim, insisted that Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and counter-terrorism forces were completely in control of the situation.

He blamed the attack on IS sleeper cells.

"Because of the ongoing Mosul offensive, they may want to create a situation where forces would be withdrawn from there and the focus shifted to Kirkuk," Mr Karim told Kurdish news agency Rudaw.

"Also because they are being defeated in Mosul, they want to boost their morale with these kinds of actions."

Five Iranian employees are believed to be among the dead in the attack on the power plant to the north of Kirkuk, Iraq's electricity ministry said.

Seven other employees and five police guards were wounded.

The power plant, which is still under construction, is being built by an Iranian company. Associated Press reported that the IS fighters had asked to be taken to the Iranian workers before killing them.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A senior Iraqi army commander in Mosul says ISIS are "not that strong".

Government forces said on Friday they had regained control of a further two villages - al-Awaizat and Nanaha - south of Mosul, killing 15 IS militants and forcing 65 families to evacuate their homes.

On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said the organisation had received reports of IS using people living near Mosul as human shields.

There were also reports the group had "shot dead civilians who have tried to rise up against them or who they suspect are disloyal", he added. </s> IRBIL -- Militants armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early on Friday in an assault quickly claimed by the Islamic State group and likely aimed at diverting authorities' attention for the battle to retake IS-held Mosul.

Multiple explosions rocked the city and gun battles were underway, said witnesses in Kirkuk, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were concerned for their safety. Much of the fighting was centered on a government compound in the city.

IS said its fighters were behind the attack, which the extremist group said targeted the Iraqi government. The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency and could not immediately be verified.

Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw aired footage showing black smoke rising over the city as extended bursts of automatic gunfire rang out. The TV, however, quoted Kirkuk Gov. Najmadin Karim as saying that the militants have not seized any government buildings.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack comes as the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces are making a major push to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul.

Kirkuk is an oil-rich city some 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul that is claimed by both Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish region. It has long been a flashpoint for tension and has been the scene of multiple attacks by Islamic State militants.

Kemal Kerkuki, a senior commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces west of Kirkuk, said the town where his base is located outside the city also came under attack early on Friday. He said the base is now under control.

He said IS maintains sleeper cells in Kirkuk and the surrounding villages, and that a group of IS fighters tried to attack a power station in Dibis village west of Kirkuk with light arms and a suicide bomber.

IS also claimed an attack on the power station, saying that its fighters had stormed the facility and killed all security forces stationed there.

Kerkuki said he believes the attackers infiltrated Kirkuk posing as displaced civilians. The city has absorbed hundreds of thousands of displaced people from neighboring provinces since IS first overran wide stretches of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.

"Many of (the displaced civilians), I'm sure they are working with ISIS," Kerkuki said, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group. "We arrested one recently and he confessed (he was part of a sleeper cell)."

Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led coalition support launched a multi-pronged assault this week to retake Mosul and surrounding areas from IS. The operation is the largest undertaken by the Iraqi military since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Iraqi officials said they had advanced as far as the town of Bartella, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Mosul's outskirts, by Thursday. </s> Islamic State militants attacked several buildings in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Friday before dawn, security sources said.

The hardline militant group claimed the attacks in online statements.

Witnesses in the city said armed militants had attacked a police compound and fighting was under way. Multiple explosions and gunfire could be heard, they said.

Kirkuk is an oil rich city 180 miles north of Baghdad that is claimed by both Iraq’s central government and the country’s Kurdish region.

Crude production facilities were not targeted and power supply continued uninterrupted in the city, security sources said.

There are no reports of casualties so far. </s> KIRKUK, Iraq — Islamic State militants armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early Friday, in an assault that appeared aimed at diverting Iraqi security forces from a massive offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul.

At least 13 workers, including four Iranians, were killed when IS militants stormed a power plant north of Kirkuk and then blew themselves up.

Multiple explosions meanwhile rocked the city and gun battles were ongoing, said witnesses in Kirkuk, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were concerned for their safety. Much of the fighting was centered on a government compound in the city. They said the streets were largely deserted out of fear of militant snipers.

IS said its fighters targeted the provincial headquarters. The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency and could not immediately be verified.

Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw aired footage showing black smoke rising over the city as extended bursts of automatic gunfire rang out. It quoted Kirkuk Gov. Najmadin Karim as saying that the militants had not seized any government buildings.

The fighting raged late into the afternoon, and heavy smoke billowed up from the area of the provincial headquarters, where clashes were underway, according to live footage on the local Terkmeneli TV channel. It was unclear what caused the blaze.

In the power plant attack, which took place in Dibis, a town north of Kirkuk, three IS suicide bombers stormed the facility and killed 13 workers, including four Iranians, before blowing themselves up as police arrived, said Maj. Ahmed Kader Ali, the Dibis police chief.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi condemned the Kirkuk assault, which he said killed four Iranians and wounded three others, according to the official IRNA news agency. It was not immediately clear if Iranians were targeted in other attacks.

There was no immediate word on casualties among civilians or Kurdish forces in Kirkuk city.

Kirkuk is some 100 miles from the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces have been waging a wide-scale offensive since Monday. </s> KIRKUK, Iraq | Islamic State militants armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked targets in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk early Friday, in an assault that appeared aimed at diverting Iraqi security forces from a massive offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul.

At least 13 workers, including four Iranians, were killed when IS militants stormed a power plant north of Kirkuk and then blew themselves up.

Multiple explosions meanwhile rocked the city and gun battles were ongoing, said witnesses in Kirkuk, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were concerned for their safety. Much of the fighting was centered on a government compound in the city. They said the streets were largely deserted out of fear of militant snipers.

IS said its fighters targeted the provincial headquarters. The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency and could not immediately be verified.

Local Kurdish television channel Rudaw aired footage showing black smoke rising over the city as extended bursts of automatic gunfire rang out. It quoted Kirkuk Gov. Najmadin Karim as saying that the militants had not seized any government buildings.

The fighting raged late into the afternoon, and heavy smoke billowed up from the area of the provincial headquarters, where clashes were underway, according to live footage on the local Terkmeneli TV channel. It was unclear what caused the blaze.

In the power plant attack, which took place in Dibis, a town north of Kirkuk, three IS suicide bombers stormed the facility and killed 13 workers, including four Iranians, before blowing themselves up as police arrived, said Maj. Ahmed Kader Ali, the Dibis police chief.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi condemned the Kirkuk assault, which he said killed four Iranians and wounded three others, according to the official IRNA news agency. It was not immediately clear if Iranians were targeted in other attacks.

There was no immediate word on casualties among civilians or Kurdish forces in Kirkuk city.

Kirkuk is some 170 kilometers (100 miles) from the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces have been waging a wide-scale offensive since Monday.

IS has in the past resorted to suicide bombings in and around Baghdad in response to battlefield losses elsewhere in the country. But the complex assault in Kirkuk more closely resembled those carried out by the Taliban in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Kirkuk is some 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul. The oil-rich city is claimed by both Iraq’s central government and the country’s Kurdish region. Kurdish forces assumed full control of Kirkuk in the summer of 2014, as Iraq’s army and police crumbled in the face of a lightning advance by IS.

Kemal Kerkuki, a senior commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces west of Kirkuk, said the town where his base is located outside the city also came under attack early Friday, but that the base was now under control.

He said IS maintains sleeper cells in Kirkuk and the surrounding villages. “We arrested one recently and he confessed,” he said, adding that the attackers may have posed as displaced civilians in order to infiltrate the city.

Kirkuk province has absorbed hundreds of thousands of displaced people since IS first overran wide stretches of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing Mosul, the country’s second largest city.

Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition launched a multi-pronged assault this week to retake Mosul and surrounding areas from IS. The operation is the largest undertaken by the Iraqi military since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Iraqi officials said they had advanced as far as the town of Bartella, 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Mosul’s outskirts, by Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati of Iraq’s elite forces held a press conference Friday a kilometer (half a mile) away from the town and insisted the special forces had “full control.” He said special forces were clearing explosives and contending with some snipers who remained in the town. Gunfire could be heard in the distance.

Elsewhere in Iraq, the country’s top Shiite cleric called on forces taking part in the Mosul offensive to protect civilians, and for residents of Mosul, a mainly Sunni city, to cooperate with security forces.

“We stress today upon our beloved fighters, as we have before on many occasions, that they exercise the greatest degree of restraint in dealing with civilians stuck in the areas where there is fighting,” the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a Friday sermon read by an aide. “Protect them and prevent any harm to them by all possible means.”

Some 3,900 people, or about 650 families, have fled Mosul and the nearby Hamdaniyah district since the operation began this week, according to Adrian Edwards of the U.N. refugee agency.

Ravina Shamdasani, of the U.N. human rights office, said it had “verified information” that IS had forced 550 people to relocate to Mosul from the nearby villages of Samalia and Najafia on Monday, part of an “apparent policy of preventing civilians from escaping to areas controlled by Iraqi security forces.”

Shamdasani reiterated concerns IS could use civilians as human shields, and said the office was investigating reports that the group had killed at least 40 civilians for suspected disloyalty. She declined to elaborate on the reports, citing “security reasons.”

Schreck reported from Irbil, Iraq. Associated Press writers Susannah George in Irbil, Ahmed Sami and Joseph Krauss in Baghdad, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Bartella, Iraq, Bassem Mroue in Beirut , Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. </s> Video: As Iraqi forces press on in Mosul, Islamic State launches Kirkuk counterattack

Suspected Islamic State militants killed 18 people in Kirkuk on Friday, four days after Iraqi and Kurdish forces started an offensive to take back control of Mosul </s> KIRKUK, Iraq – Islamic State militants launched a wave of pre-dawn attacks in and around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, killing at least 14 people and setting off fierce clashes with Kurdish security forces that were still raging after sundown.

The assault appeared aimed at diverting attention from the Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul, and raised fears the extremists could lash out in unpredictable ways as they defend the largest city under their control and their last urban bastion in Iraq.

Multiple explosions rocked Kirkuk, and gunfire rang out around the provincial headquarters, where the fighting was concentrated. Smoke billowed over the city, and the streets were largely deserted out of fear of militant snipers.

North of the city, three suicide bombers stormed a power plant in the town of Dibis, killing 13 workers, including four Iranian technicians, before blowing themselves up as police arrived, said Maj. Ahmed Kader Ali, the Dibis police chief.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, condemned the assault, which he said also wounded three Iranian workers, according to the official IRNA news agency. It was not immediately clear if Iranians were targeted in other attacks.

Kirkuk is some 100 miles from the IS-held city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces launched a wide-scale offensive on Monday. IS has in the past resorted to suicide bombings in and around Baghdad in response to battlefield losses elsewhere in the country.

Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition launched the multi-pronged assault this week to retake Mosul and surrounding areas – the largest operation undertaken by the Iraqi military since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

By Thursday, the Iraqi forces had advanced as far as Bartella, a historically Christian town some nine miles from Mosul’s outskirts.

“Bartella was liberated yesterday, and today we are inside its church,” Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati declared on friday. “I bring the good news to our Christian brothers that the church is liberated.”

Some 3,900 people, or about 650 families, have fled Mosul and the nearby Hamdaniyah district since the operation began, according to Adrian Edwards of the U.N. refugee agency.

Ravina Shamdasani, of the U.N. human rights office, said it had “verified information” that IS forced 550 people to relocate to Mosul from the nearby villages of Samalia and Najafia on Monday, part of an “apparent policy of preventing civilians from escaping to areas controlled by Iraqi security forces.”

Shamdasani reiterated concerns IS could use civilians as human shields, and said the office was investigating reports that the group had killed at least 40 civilians for suspected disloyalty. She did not provide further details.

Schreck reported from Irbil, Iraq. Associated Press writers Susannah George in Irbil, Ahmed Sami and Joseph Krauss in Baghdad, Bassem Mroue in Beirut , Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Bartella, Iraq, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. </s> IRBIL, Iraq — The Latest on the developments in Iraq where Iraqi forces and their allies launched a major offensive this week to retake Mosul, the country's second-largest city from the Islamic State group (all times local):

The Islamic State group says its fighters have stormed a government compound in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The claim was carried by the IS-run Aamaq news agency early on Friday, and could not immediately be verified.

Witnesses in Kirkuk say militants attacked two police compounds early Friday and reported hearing heavy gunfire and explosions.

Live footage from the Kurdish Rudaw TV shows smoke rising from the city. The station quoted however Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim as saying that militants have not seized any government buildings.

Kirkuk is around 170 (100 miles) from the IS-held city of Mosul. Iraq launched a massive operation to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city, earlier this week.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Witnesses in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk say armed militants have attacked a local police compound and that fighting is underway.

They say multiple explosions have rocked the city so far in Friday's assault and that gunfire could be heard ringing through the city.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack comes as the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces are making a major push to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity as they are concerned for their safety.

Kirkuk is an oil rich city some 290 (180 miles) north of Baghdad that is claimed by both Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish region. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- TEHRAN (FNA)- Several people have been killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a series of blasts that struck the city of Kirkuk, the Iraqi military announced.At least six improvised explosive devices went off on Thursday in the Northern city and two more were defused by security forces, the military said in a statement, Al-Jazeera reported.It gave a death toll of three people, while 16 others were wounded.Unidentified security officials told The Associated Press news agency that the blasts killed at least four people and wounded 23, while medical sources in Kirkuk's general hospital told Reuters news agency that at least five people were killed and 18 wounded.There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Saad Harbya, the head of Kirkuk security operations, blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group.The explosions reportedly struck in the centre of Kirkuk, in a commercial area that has several shopping centres, cafes and restaurants, sending people fleeing in panic.The blasts went off in quick succession after iftar, the meal that breaks daylong fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when streets are typically crowded with shoppers and people out having dinner.Police blocked off all roads leading to the blast sites and were allowing only ambulances to transfer the wounded to nearby hospitals.Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State, which once held large swaths of the country, in December 2017.But militants have switched to hit-and-run attacks aimed at undermining the central government in Iraq's capital, Baghdad.Its fighters have regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range in the Northeast, which extends from Diyala province, on the border with Iran, crossing Northern Salahuddin province and Southern Kirkuk.
ISIL militants launch attacks on government buildings, police stations, and a power station in the city of Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, killing dozens of people.