there has been fierce fighting near the key iraqi city of kerr kirkuk. kurdish mesh ferg a forces launched an operation. >>> mexico's president has unveiled major changes to the country's police forces in a bid to stamp out corruption. following widespread protests over the disappearance and suspected killing of the 43 student two months ago. >>> and in india, a an an envirt tribunal has directed all old cars off the rode noting that new delhi's air pollution set didding word. >>> the unites nations has declared a state of emergency in gaza following extensive flooding in the strip. about 100,000 people are still homeless after the war in july and august and the heavy rain is adding to their suffering. gerald has more. >> reporter: days of winter storms inundate the gaza strip. rescue teams assist people and vehicles trapped by the flooding while residents and business owners do all they can to protect their belongings. >> translator: we are removing our goods last year a lot of it was detroit and we weren't compensated. >> translator: we left our home b

the oil city of kirkuk is in the middle. kurdish peshawar have been involved in a fiercele -- fierce battle for three days. i.s.i.l. holds thousands of kilometres of territory shown here in yellow. in the shaded area, most backs the sunni armed group. in the past few days there has been heavy fighting. let's cross live to imran khan. let's begin with the fight for kirkuk. who has the upper hand now. what is the latest there? >> at the moment what we are seeing, and this is typical of the tactics that we see from i.s.i.l., is when they are pushed out of an area, they take refuge in a country side, and that is problematic for iraqi forces. the fight at the moment is for the town. you take the major towns, you deny i.s.i.l. cover. they then go into the countryside and mount the hit and run tactics. we have seen this across iraq. baiji oil refinery was an example of that, and now in kirkuk. in terms of the upper hand, it's the iraqi army, controlling much of the area surrounding kirkuk with kurdish peshawar forces. the hit and r

these are minority areas, they're in kirkuk and in some areas of di allah. that had not changed and that had still remained an issue of dispute not only between the kurds and baghdad, and as was discussed, as you're starting to see some of the shia say, you take it, this is not our problem, that this is becoming now a problem between the kurds and those populations directly, and by that i mean the sunni arabs and the minority populations. that remains very sensitive, and so when you started having now oil contracts being signed in disputed territories, even though the governor of mosul made a switch and now he's cutting deals with barzani, there are sunni arab tribal groups, people that do not support him that are very much against some of what they refer to as kurdish encroachments in these territories. so when june 10th arrived and i was with some of these folks about three weeks later, there was a lot of excite am, new maps were coming out, the kurds had 1,000 kilometer border now with isis, 45% more territory. so that overnight the kurdistan region expan

the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was liberated some came back to see devastation of the peaceful suburb. >> now she and her three grandchildren live in the bathroom of this bombed out shelter. more shelling and street battles scar the town further. with so much focus placed on winning the war against isil very little thought is given to what happens next. now the iraqi army tactic is to go into a town, clear it of isil fighters and hold that town. what that means for the residents, the few that remain, is that they live in squalor. those that come back take a look at what's left and wonder what will happen next. graffiti still covers the walls here. while the suburb was hardly well off before the war it was at least functional. for now children explore the wreckage while adults who come to assess the damage can only feel despair. they have no idea when they can rebuild, when they can return home or what help the government will give them. al jazeera, baghdad. >> israeli police have ruled there is no

south of kirkuk and alongside the militias as well. a lot of these dynamics and the idea again when you ask, will the kurds be independent, the question is, how autonomous can the region become and what state do they want to become and how dependent will they be? those are the questions i will look at? contrary to discourse, i don't see any department state at least inclusive of kirkuk and mi noah in the future. this issue of how to negotiate will be beyond baghdad. this will be a curd, sunni arab issue. the dialectic will be there between the central government or the iraqi government when they come to revenue and payment, but delineating borders, particularly if the sunni-arabs decided to create their own region. it may not be in their favor. finally, oil is high risk. i don't see where the kurds have enhanced their leverage when baghdad is not going to pay these oil companies's contracts. the question remains unanswered how the experts will be derisked and be able to stay in the region. it will be a deal cut with turkey or the sunni

a small town outside kii kirkuk. imran khan has our exclusive report. >> has nowhere to go and incorporate to stay. when shelter indiscriminately destroying her house. the men in her family tried to fight back but without backup they were overrun. >> i.s.i.l. attacks us in the early hours of the morning. they swept the houses in the village and looked for those who resisted them. they stormed the house and executed them. i managed to escape in an underground hole. after two days i got out with my grandchildren only to see our houshouse was burned down. >> what happened next. >> translator: we have lost 22 men from our family. we have been displaced for more than three months. our family has been scattered. some to the north of iraq others to the south. the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was libertied, some of us came bac lib liberat. >> in september, iraq's army came in to fight i.s.i.l, more shelling and pitch street battles scared the town further. with so much focus placed on winning the war agains

the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was liberated some of us came back but only to see the devastation of what used to be a peace suburb. >> reporter: she now has three remaining grandchildren living in a bathroom of this bombed out shell. iraq's army came in to fight isil. more shelling and street battles scar the down. very little thought has been given to what happens next. now the iraqi tactic is to go in to a town, clear of it isil fighters and hold that town but what means for the residents, the few that remain, they live in squalor, and the ones who come back take a look at what is next and wonder what will happen next. >> reporter: graffiti covers the walls here. and while the suburb was there before the war, it was functional. they have no idea when they can rebuild. when they can return home or what help the government will give them. al jazeera, baghdad. >> also in baghdad, two separate car bombings have killed at least 13 people, a parked car blew up in a market in a shia neighborhood. and

the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was liberated some of us came back to see the devastation of what used to be a peaceful suburb. >> reporter: but she and her remaining grandchildren live in this bombed out shell. iraq army came in to fight isil and retake the town. but more shelling scared the town further. with so much focus placed on winning the war against isil very little thought has been given to what happens next. now the iraqi army tactic is to go in to a town. clear of it of isil fighters and hold that town. but what happens for the residents, they live in call lar. the ones come back and take a look of what is left and wonder what is next. >> graffiti covers the walls here an. children look at the wreckage while adults who return to assess the damage can only feel despair. they have no idea when they can rebuild, return home or what help the government will give them. >> gun battles between houthi and alqaida-backed tribesmen have been going on for weeks. we have more from the capitol of sa

military has had success against the group but in some areas like the northern iraqi city of kirkuk, i.s.i.l. is almost unopposed,sena khodr has the, ze story. >> in the town of kobani near the syrian turkish border, i.s.i.l. promised victory. across the border in iraq the group wasn't able to stop the army's advance into beji an oil producing town north of baghdad. >> i.s.i.l. may now be on the defensive but the military campaign is simply drawing borders, it is protecting the kurdish areas, kirkuk and strategic places like beji. sunni strong holds in iraq and syria. >> reporter: group uses fear and force to rule. a local human rights group said i.s.i.l. murdered 1500 people in its areas in the past five months. many were civilians and many were beheaded with their bodies displayed in public. these acts are seen as part of a strategy. >> they want to show their strength. i mean these beheadings are you know everything is done on purpose. showing that they are still here. on the ground. very powerful. they can strike anyone, any time. anywhere. >> it is hard to know how much support

across from kirkuk all the way to maqmor. do you welcome engagement from the revolutionary guard and the gifting of equipment to the kurds, we're told that there was some heavy artillery and some ammunition from ammunition warehouses in baghdad? >> i'm going to invite edward to say in a second a couple of words on the relationship, the long-term relationship, because he's very familiar having served in the region. i would simply say that somtimeses we do look at iran through the british spectrum of events, and more modern events, we perhaps forget that there is a strong historical and geographical relationship between the kurds and indeed a iran. i think the large thirdest ethnic grouping in iran are the kurdish themselves. therefore, there will naturally be a synergy and an interest. we're aware that the revolutionary guards are -- we have very much kept an eye on what was actually happening here. this was at a time of huge flux, of huge change that was taking place with isil pushing down, as i mentioned, earlier. it obvious

and kurdish forces say they are facing an attack by isil fighters near kirkuk. they say they targeted positions south of the strategic oil city. u.s.-lead coalition forces backed the peshmerga with the air strikes. >>> a fact finding committee has blamed the muslim brotherhood and others for a wave of violence last year. the committee was set up to investigate 11 incidents in which hundreds of people died. one of those was during a protest in august last year, when the report says 607 civilians and eight policemen were killed. the report says that pro-morsi supporters fired the first shot. it said the death toll could have been much lower if the response was more targeted. >> this report really in its recommendations not tremendously, unfortunately, called for accountability. it calls on training and raising awareness to police officers who were involved in shooting, but it never asked for, you know, bringing those who are responsible, even for -- what do they say they or what do they refer to as minimal casualties. they have called for any level of accountabili

imran kahn has this exclusive report from a town south of kirkuk. >> reporter: she has nowhere to go and, nowhere to stay. when isil took control of the town they she would indiscriminately and shelling her house. the men in her family tried to fight back but they were over run. >> translator: isil attacked us in the early on hours of the morning and swept the houses in the village and looked for those resisting him. when my husband and two sons ran out of ammunition they stormed the house and executed them. but i manage today escape in an under crowns hole. after two days i got out with migrants children. only to see that hour house was burned down and isil had taken our car and electricity generator. >> reporter: she becomes too upset to talk. but her cousin tells us what happened next. >> translator: we have lost 22 men from our family. we have been displaced for more than three months. our family has been scattered. some to the north of iraq, others to the south of course the rest outside of the kirkuk, after the village was liberated. some of us came back but only to see devasta

the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was liberated. some of us came back but only to see devastation of what used to be a peaceful suburb. >> reporter: she and her three remaining grandchildren now live in the bathroom of this bombed out shell. in september iraq's army came in to fight isil and to retake the town. more shelling and street battled scarred the town further. with so much focus placed on winning the war against isil, very little thought has been given to what happens next. the iraqi army tack stick in go in to a town, clear of isil fighters and hold that town what, that means for the few residents that remain is they live in squalor the ones that come back take a look at what's left and wonder what will happen next. graffiti supporting isil still covers the walls here and although the suburb was hardly well off before the war, it was at least functional. for now, children explore the wreckage while the adults who have returned here to assess the damage can only feel despair. they have no idea when they can rebuild. when th

the rest just outside of kirkuk. after the village was liberated, some of us came back but only to see devastation of what used to be a peaceful suburb. >> they live in a bathroom of this bombed out shell. in september iraq's army came in to fight i.s.i.l. and retake hamatu. more shelling and pitched street battles scarred the down further. with so much attention focused on i.s.i.l, hold that town what that means for the residents the very few that remain is that they live in squalor and those that come back take a look at what's left and wonder what will happen next? graffiti still spowrsing supporg i.s.i.l. covers the wall and before the war it was at least functional. children assess the damage but adults can only feel despair. they have no idea when they can rebuild, when they can return home or what help the government will give them. imran khan, al jazeera, baghdad. >> two separate car bombings have killed 13 people in the iraqi capital. a parked car blue up in a market in the mostly shia neighborhood of mashta

in the battle against isi think this was the frontline we were told across from kirkuk all the way to mock more. do you welcome the engagement with the revolutionary guard in the battle in iraq and iran's gifting of military equipment to the kurds? we are told they delivered heavy artillery and ammunition from ammunition warehouses in baghdad. >> i'm going to invite edwards to say a couple of words on a long-term relationship because he is very familiar having served in the region. i would simply say sometimes we do look at iran to the british spectrum of advanced. we perhaps forget that there is a strong historical and geographical relationship between the kurds and iran. i think the third-largest ethnic grouping in iran are the kurdish themselves and therefore there will naturally be a synergy and an interest. we are aware that the revolutionary guards deployed in the diyala province and we have always kept an eye on what was happening there. this was at a huge time with change taking place with isil pushing them as i mentioned earlier. it obviously is a decision for the iraqi gover

in french air strikes in northern iraq, the air operation took place south and west of the city of kirkuk. seven people have been killed in iraq's capital after a bomb exploded inside a mini bus, 10 others injured in an attack in sadder city, a shia neighborhood of baghdad. ♪ ♪ >>> still to come this half hour, protests in india as investigators say the alleged rape and murder of two young girls in may was actually suicide. and the cricketing world mourns of death of australian batsman philip hughes who died a few days after being hit by a ball. >>> again a reminders of the stop stories here in al jazerra. taliban fighters have launched a series of attacks targeting foreigners in afghanistan. at least eight people have been culled in kabul. pro vin shel shallow visuals say a coordinated effort is on at camp bastion. a reported bomb play has killed people in nigeria. killing 40 people. in lines linked by the group boca mboko haram. >>> a poke will not cut surprise. >>> the next can president enrico peÑa nieto has laid out a new strategy to tackle the country's dysfunctional justice sy

. ♪ >>> the battle for kirkuk, kurdish peshmerga defends the iraqi oil town against the isil on slot. ♪ ♪ >>> hello, this is al jazerra, live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead, demanding change, mexico's president agrees to calls for modifying policing methods. but to the plans go far enough? >>> tackling india's pollution problem. an environment the tribunal orders old vehicles off the streets of new deli. and big ben is broken. we look at the cul

may now be on the defensive, but the military campaign is protecting the kurdish areas - kirkuk and places like beiji. the strikes are not hurting them in the strongholds in iraq and syria. >> reporter: in those areas, according to the united nations, the group uses fear and force to rule. a local human rights group says i.s.i.l. murdered 1,500 people in its areas in syria in the past five months. many were civilians, and many were beheaded, with their bodies displayed in public. the acts are seen as part of a strategy. >> they want to show strength. the beheadings are - everything is done on purpose. showing that they are still here on the ground, very powerful. they can strike anyone any time, anywhere. >> it is hard to know how much support i.s.i.l. has among the people. it grew in strength by exploiting sunni grievances in iraq and syria. many believe that only by addressing them will they be treate treated. -- defeated. >> translation: you can't beet it militarily. there's no way to fight it unless you get rid of the syrian regime. >> reporter: the coalition strikes may have stopped i

no with the disputed areas of kirkuk that still need to be reconciled. but this is the direction i hope we continue down. >> what remains british's interest. >> i think it's simpler to say, we want to see british countries flourish there, we want to see a safe environment for all international countries actually go in and be able to operate. amend we want to see oil move to parts of the world and not have legal question marks over whether or not it can actually indeed be purchased and i am pleased to say that's actually taken place, so i think we're heading in the right direction. >> as you know, iraq and kurdistan is sitting on a lot of gas, in fact a huge amount of gas. is there any role for britain in facilitating that? >> i think this is something that is worth investigating and worth further discussions and something i think the embassy may have some thoughts on this. but certainly, you're right to say that the potential for -- in northern iraq is actually huge, it's a lot of it is untapped and i think it will help the country for many, many years t

dislodge fighters from the so-called islamic state, or isis, from areas around the oil-rich city of kirkuk. newsman: a delegation from the newly created government of iraq has arrived in the capitol. they'll be meeting with secretary of state elizabeth mccord before moving on to the white house to appeal for more help in their fight against the insurgent sunni islamist group isis. newswoman: their request comes against the backdrop of insurgent gains in the anbar province, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the u.s.'s ten-year engagement in iraq. marines took heavy losses in two separate battles to wrest control of fallujah from sunni insurgents in 2004, but now the city is effectively ruled by isis. (starts engine) newsman: president dalton is reportedly weighing whether to redeploy u.s. troops in what the administration insists... morning. hey. (turns off radio) uh-oh. the serious mom face. no. so, uh... be honest, how worried should i be about isis? you let me worry about isis. you worry about getting your dad up at 7:00. he's got a flight to catch. all right, fine. keep

will be the first to lead to a consolidated deal in the future not least with the disputed areas of kirkuk which the sunnis have reconciled but i hope this is where we will be going. >> what is the deal that would be an britain's interest? >> i think we want to see british companies flourish and we want to see a safe environment for all national companies to actually operate and we want to be able to see oil move to parts of the world do not have legal question mark over whether or not they can indeed be purchased and that is actually taking place for they think we are headed headed in the right direction. >> as you know iraq is sitting on a huge quantity of gas and it would very much address the over reliance on russia's gas. as their role role for britain in facilitating that? >> this is something worth further discussions on something the embassy perhaps may have some thoughts on. i would say that the potential in northern iraq is a really huge. a lot of it is untapped and i think it will help the country for many years to come. >> you said mr. chairman that they are doing a major gasif

outside of kirkuk, after the village was liberated, some of us came back, but only to see devastation of what used to be a peaceful suburb. >> she and her three remaining grandchildren now lived in the bathroom of this bombed out shell. in september, iraq's army came in to fight isil and retake the area. more shelling scarred the town further. >> with so much focus placed on winning the war against isil, very little thought has been given to what happens next. the iraq army attack is to go into a town, clear it of isil fighters and hold the town. what that means for the remaining residents is they live in squalor. the ones that come back and take a look at what's left wonder what happens next. >> graffiti still covers the wall. although the suburb was hardly well off before the war, it was at least functional. children explore the wreckage while the duties returning here to assess the damage feel despair. they have no idea when they can rebuild, return home or what help the government will give them. >> aljazeera, baghdad. >> the stability still a distant prospect in the fighting over

we have a similar situation in the kirkuk region that is in dispute right now between kurdish forces and isil. sure, we can go in there and destroy those oil wells, but there's a longstanding problem there. we had a similar problem with saddam hussein when we first fwhe about whether to destroy the oil facilities or whether to continue to allow them to operate and then capture them. so that will be an ongoing challenge as we go forward. what i'd like to talk about, mr. chairman, is about the actual shipment that's going on right now over the turkish border. we have been largely unsuccessful in interrupting that oil flow. i was in erbil in kurdistan recently, had a chance to talk to the foreign secretary in turkey. and i have to say, between our intelligence and what we heard on the ground there, there is widespread abuse and sale of oil by isil forces over the turkish border. and we've got to get at that. we've got to disrupt that. and i'm not confident that that is happening now. and i'm not at all confident that we're getting cooperation from the turkish government. the same situat

we have a similar situation in the kirkuk region, where it is in a dispute between the kurdish forces and isol, we had a similar problem with saddam hussein when we first went in there about whether to destroy these oil facilities or whether to allow them to continue to operate and then capture them. so that will be an ongoing challenge for us as we go forward. what i would like to talk to you about, mr. secretary, the actual shipment of what is going on right now over the turkish border. we have been largely unsuccessful in interrupting that oil flow. and i was in erbil in kurdistan recently and had a chance to talk to the secretary in turkey. and i have to say between our intelligence and what we heard on the ground there there is widespread abuse and sale of oil by isol forces over the turkish border. and we've got to get at that. we have to disrupt that. and i'm not confident that that is happening now. and i'm not at all confident that we're getting cooperation from the turkish government. the same situation is ongoing at -- in syria. there are smuggling routes there that have be

we have a similar situation in the kirkuk region, where it is in dispute right now between kurdish forces and isil. sure, we could go in there and destroy those oil wells, but there is a long-standing problem there. we had a similar problem with saddam hussein when we first went in there about whether to destroy these oil facilities or whether to allow them to continue to operate and then capture them. so that will be an ongoing challenge for us as we go forward. what i would like to talk to you about, mr. secretary, the actual shipment of what is going on right now over the turkish border. we have been largely unsuccessful in interrupting that oil flow. and i was in erbil in kurdistan recently and had a chance to talk to the foreign secretary in turkey. and i have to say between our intelligence and what we heard on the ground there, there is widespread abuse and sale of oil by isil forces over the turkish border. and we've got to get at that. we have to disrupt that. and i'm not confident that that is happening now. and i'm not at all confident that we're getting cooperation from the tu

we have a similar situation in the kirkuk region, where it is in a dispute between the urdish forces and isol, we had a similar problem with saddam ussein when we first went in there about whether to destroy these oil facilities or whether to allow them to continue to operate and then capture them. so that will be an ongoing challenge for us as we go forward. what i would like to talk to you about, mr. secretary, the actual shipment of what is going on right now over the turkish border. we have been largely unsuccessful in interrupting that oil flow. and i was in erbil in kurdistan recently and had a chance to talk to the secretary in turkey. and i have to say between our intelligence and what we heard on the ground there there is widespread abuse and sale of oil by isol forces over the turkish border. and we've got to get at that. we have to disrupt that. and i'm not confident that that is happening now. and i'm not at all confident that we're getting cooperation from the turkish government. the same situation is ongoing at -- in syria. there are smuggling routes there that have bee