ISIS attack on Kirkuk kills 46 as Iraq ramps up Mosul offensive

An ongoing attack by the Islamic State group in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk has killed at least 46 people, mostly members of the security forces, as Iraq ramps up an offensive to take the terror group's Mosul stronghold.

"We have 46 dead and 133 wounded, most of them members of the security services, as result of the clashes with Daesh (ISIS)," an interior ministry brigadier general said of the Kirkuk situation on Saturday.

The toll was confirmed by a source at the Kirkuk health directorate.

The brigadier general also said at least 25 jihadist attackers had been killed since the raid was launched early Friday

A day after the shock attack on the Kurdish-controlled city, jihadist snipers and suspected suicide bombers were still at large, prompting Baghdad to send reinforcements.

Special counter-terrorism and intelligence units had been tasked with hunting down some of the dozens of ISIS fighters who stormed public buildings early Friday.

The large-scale "inghimasi" attack — a term describing jihadist operations in which gunmen, often wearing suicide vests, intend to sow chaos and fight to the death rather than achieve any military goal — caught Kirkuk off guard.

The large city, which lies in an oil-producing region some 240km north of Baghdad, woke to find jihadists roaming the streets of several neighbourhoods on Friday

The jihadists used mosque loudspeakers to broadcast praise of their self-proclaimed "caliphate", which has been shrinking steadily since last year and is looking closer than ever to collapse.

One attacker captured by the Kurdish security services on Friday claimed the Kirkuk raid was planned by ISIS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a diversion from the offensive on Mosul.

"Today's attack was one of caliph Baghdadi's plans to demonstrate that the Islamic State is remaining and expanding and reduce the pressure on the Mosul front," he reportedly said.

A Kirkuk-based television journalist was shot dead by an IS sniper on Friday and the city remained under curfew.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced late Friday that he was sending reinforcements to Kirkuk but there was no sign of any major impact on operations around Mosul.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq on Saturday to review the offensive, which his country and around 60 other nations support.

Mosul is much the most populous city in the "caliphate" Baghdadi declared in June 2014 and the operation to recapture it is Iraq's largest in years.

Its loss would deal a huge blow to IS and could mark the end of its days as a land-holding force in Iraq.