On the night of January 29, around 150 ISIL fighters attacked positions south and west of the city of Kirkuk, Iraq, which were temporarily under the control of the Peshmerga.

The ISIL offensive began under the cover of dense fog and succeeded in overwhelming Peshmerga positions and seizing the towns of Mala Abdullah, Maryam Beg, Tel Ward and the Maktab Khalid crossing.

Parts of the Khabbaz oil fields were also captured, taking 24 workers hostage.

Gen. Sherko Shwani, commander of the 1st Brigade and the highest ranking head of Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk.

[11][12] The next day, another senior Peshmerga commander, Gen. Hussein Mansour, commander of the 2nd combat support units in the Kirkuk region was killed by sniper fire while leading an attack against Mala Abdullah village.