Iraqi Insurgents Are Heading to Kirkuk Where South Korean Troops Will Be Deployed

The armed insurgents loyal to deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein formed a new resistance group near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk where South Korea’s additional contingent will be deployed, a source close to Baghdad said on Monday.

It is reported that a new resistance group named “resistance to free Iraqis from the occupation of U.S.-led coalition” sent leaflets to a number of political parties and Non-Government Organizations (NGO) located in Kirkuk to warn of possible attacks. Reportedly, two international organizations which were told of the possible attacks received rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).

A series of intelligence also informed that insurgents who fled Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit and Samara to avoid the U.S. troops’ mop-up operations are gathering around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk to carry out large-scale attacks on U.S. troops.

A mayor of the northern Iraqi city said on Sunday in an interview with a radio station that the insurgents are now making attacks from the mountains near the city, making the city such a dangerous area.

U.S. troops, Iraqi police, and international organizations have received a series of attacks from insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. On Saturday, rebels hit a U.S. military base in central Iraq with mortar shells, killing one American soldier and wounding two.