At least nine Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and three brothers were killed in northern Iraq attacks blamed on the Islamic State jihadist group, officials and a family member said Friday. The jihadists attacked the village of KhidirJija, south of the Kurdish capital of Arbil, late Thursday, killing the three civilians and two peshmerga, Kurdish security officials said. The peshmerga launched an operation in response, and seven more fighters died when “an explosive device planted by IS elements” blew up. The three civilians, brothers aged between 11 and 24, were children of a village official, a relative told AFP. Iraqi Kurdistan’s prime minister, MasrourBarzani, later said that another peshmerga fighter died in a road accident while transporting the casualties. “We ask the (international) coalition forces and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi to provide the peshmerga with weapons because they are defending the homeland,” Barzani told reporters.