October 07, 2013
An Al-Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for an attack in Iraq’s northern semiautonomous Kurdish region. At least six people were killed in September when fighters tried to storm the headquarters of the security services in the regional capital, Irbil.
In a statement posted on the Internet on October 7, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had carried out the September attack in response to threats by regional President Masud Barzani, whom the group described as a “criminal apostate.”
The authenticity of the Internet statement could not be independently confirmed.
In August, Barzani expressed readiness to support fellow Kurds fighting Islamists in neighboring Syria.
Iraq’s Kurdish region has been relatively peaceful since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, compared to the rest of the country.