let's get more on the attack with i am imran kahn. >> an explosives laden vehicle detonated, killing police and civilians, lighting a number of cars on fire and shooting a black cloud of smoke and some rap necessarily into the air. we were expecting an attack in erbil, isil have been very clear that they wanted to attack erbil. in august they sent a message saying that we will send a volley of car bombs and suicide bombers into the city of erbil itself. also on social media, also this isn't confirmed, through isil accounts are claiming responsibility for this attack. however, i stress that isn't confirmed from isil officially but social media accounts that follow isil quite closely. this attack comes as quite a shock because of how secure the surrounding areas are. this isn't a residential area where we've seen bombing in the rest of the country. this is supposed tube high secure area within an already very secure area. >> as you say, the attack occurred just outside the governor's office. what has been his reaction? >> he's been speaking in the last 15 minutes, saying isil fighters

let's go to imran kahn, he's in baghdad and can tell us more about what we know at this stage, imran.reporter: well, in the last few minutes a video was released through credible isil associates media accounts, people that used accounts to send out videos in the past that have been confirmed it allegedly shows peter, he had convert today islam, being beheaded as well as several syrian soldiers. once again, there is a man wearing black on the video, doing the beheadings. this is a very graphic video. we do have a copy of it. we are not going to show you it. i haven't seen it personally. but what we do know is this is coming from credible sources. the video comes from aleppo. and once again, it's another message to the u.s. that the isil fighters are willing to go as far as they can in order to be able to win this fight against the coalition. now, we have seen these kinds of videos before. we do know the kind of twitter accounts it comes from. but it's very difficult to confirm the authenticity of these videos. also we have to be very careful in that his family won't have been informed.

imran kahn has the latest. >> reporter: the after maths of u.s.ikes targeting isil fighters in the central city of heat. buildings are destroyed and at least eight civilians have been killed, including women and children. three months of air strikes have pushed back isil in some areas but it is advances elsewhere. they have been pushing hard in to nearby ramadi where done are dozens of members of a sunni muslim tribe have been killed in the past two days, it's controlled most of anbar province since june. >> iraq's prime minister has called for more air support. by further east, kurdish peshmerga forces are critical of the strategy behind the air strikes. >> the air strikes don't come here. >> reporter: the bat there would is fierce and kurdish commanders say they are not getting the support that they need. they even accuse the u.s. of having a certain tolerance towards isil's advance. >> translator: this area was near the board we are iran and, it might be the preference of the coalition forces and the americans to create a problem for iran. this

imran kahn reports. >> reporter: after 72 hour long battle. town has been cleared of isil fighters.wo of the operation begins. that means swing through the town as well as villages in the area to check for improvised explosive devices and booby trapped billings. >> this i >> translator: this is the main entrance, you can see clearly the destroyed vehicle that isil use for their offensive on the town. they used stolen humvees and other army vehicles, but we have swept them from the other side and managed to clear the main road. there was entirely booby trapped. >> reporter: this was an operation that was carried out without coalition air strikes. instead, a number of shia militiamilitias cooperated withi soldiers and iranian advisers to drive isil out of the town. in in iraq the battlefield victy is being celebrated as the quickest defeat of isil so far. the prime minister visited and the leader of iranian army directed the fight itself. it's crucial because it's a gateway to the south and the key religious cities which are very important to shia muslims. now the iranians have long m

imran kahn joins us liver in baghdad. out the significance of the turan i can prime minister's visit to the turk inning region of iraq today, imran. >>> the biggest significance is the change in relationship between the two countries turkey and iraq have had very strained relations in the past this has been a chance to turn a page and develop a new relationship. that's been his theme to to his visit to baghdad and certainly to his visit in erbil. he arrived about 2:30 in the morning, he will be meeting with the kurdish prime minister and president and then a photo opportunity at friday prayers they'll go to the main mosque in the kurdish region of erbil. there are only two things that are on the sketch towel talk about between the two countries and security and energy. let's taken i didn't first, there has been a strained relationship between the kurds and baghdad. over the kurds selling oil to turkey, so turkey has worked overtime to try to bring that gap, smaller and they have managed to do that. so there is some movemen

imran kahn with this exclusive report. >> reporter: when isil fight back, this is what happens.ther few meters closer and our cameraman would have been caught in a blast of this captured humvee that was turned in to a car bomb. iraqi forces say the battle for beiji will be decisive. >> translator: we are now at the central neighborhoods of the city of beiji. these parts of the city are adjacent to the so-called checkpoint which is considered in turn to be strategically valuable because it controls the supporting lifeline of isil. stretching all the way from beiji city up to tikrit city. today we have managed cut isil's supporting lifeline. >> reporter: but that confidence is in stark contrast to how deadline isil fighters can be. this is now the reality of the fight for beiji city center. eye reich are rack i forces and isil fighters are not at a stalemate but it's close, isil are using increasingly desperate tactics including suicide bombers, car bombs and snipers. now, we have seen these type of tactics before. isil fighters rarely, if ever, surrender. for them it's a fight to

imran kahn sent this update from baghdad. >> reporter: on friday this assault began and it began from four sides of the city going in towards the center, they actually called the pro government sunni forces in the center of the city off guard. they tried to fight back. over the night there were fierce clashes. they managed to repel the invaders from the east, west, north, but the south still faces quite a lot of fighting. now, overnight we also heard this the iraqi army was going to end in reinforcements to try to help those troops stuck in the middle of the city to try to repel these fighters. that didn't happen and the heads of the anbar provincial county is saying that the troops have simply been abandoned. he's called out very publically to eye iraqi army and the u.s. ambassador in baghdad saying we ned need more helpful we don't have any coalition air cover, no iraqi helicopters, we have managed to repel the fighters so far but we don't know how long we are going t last a very desperate plea coming from the anbar provisional council. >>> in egypt. police marched in cairo, giza an

imran kahn has more from the iraqi capital baghdad. >> reporter: what a very source inside the minister of defense told us who was very close to the negotiations is that prime minute officer al-abadi wanted to sends a message to those fight on this front line that this was a fight against isil that was about iraqi unity. about keeping the country together. that the bad old days of sectarianism under nouri al-maliki had disappeared and this was about bringing in officers from all of iraq's society and making sure that this was a iraqi national unity army. also what we have been told, is that the allegations of corruption leveled against some of the officers were a concern to the prime minister and he wanted to clean house. a lot of these officers were very loyal to the previous prime minister nouri al-maliki, 10 of them have been given early retirement. and another 26 have been removed from their post and are now waiting reassignment. also prime minister al bad i's office has been briefing journalists saying it wasn't about apportioning blame aura signing blame for 30 failings of the ira

imran kahn sent us the latest from baghdad. >> reporter: the video was released on sunday morning frome types of social media platform that his have released videos like this before. the same account have been verified and authenticated. intelligence agencies will be looking at this video to see if it is authentic. the americans have already reacted saying that they are looking in to the authenticity of the video. peter kassig's family have also said they are looking in to the a 10 these at this of the video. they hope people will remember him for being a humanitarian aid worker who died for his beliefs and they have asked to be left alone at this moment in time. the video is very grew some. and brought. showing 13 behead goes in total. 12 syrian sole years and peter kassig himself. isil say he was beheaded because he was an a rookie war veteran who came to iraq during the war to kill muslims. he himself had convert today islam during his captivity. now, this is again as i say a very brutal video, but it's the type of propaganda that isil want out there and want people to see this vide

as imran kahn reports now, iraqi forces are preparing to move on the refinery as early as monday. >>orter: on saturday, iraqi forces were poised to take the key oil refinery of beiji which is about 15-kilometers away from the town itself. they had moved to about three-kilometers outside of the oil refinery before they fell back. and the phone that is the change in tactics. according to sources, the iraqi army are now taking a look at the north and the east and the countryside of beiji to clear it of pockets of isolated fighters that still remain there. the idea being that they take complete control of not only the town of beiji but the surrounding countryside before they move on the oil facility. what we are hearing is that any move on the oil facility could take place on monday. troops are massing in a nearby army base there. and whilst all of this was happening the u.s.' top jenna received in baghdad, he met with the ministry of defense and other security sources. he will be taking a look at very closely at what's going on in beiji, this is being seen as a very big success for the

we are following these developments from baghdad with imran kahn. why is their meeting significant? >> it's significant because there have been very strained relationships between turkey and iraq in general and the kurds stuck in the middle of this. the kurds are big exporters of oil to turkey. this press conference was positive, much like the press conference in baghdad was very positive, words like turning over a new leaf and new start, et cetera. what is key is the fact that the kurdish leader said out loud that if they wanted anymore troops to help with the fight against isil, they woulding willing to do that. the turks didn't want the peshmerga forces to go into kobane. they were very reticent. the fact that they've been able to say this out loud, the president said this right next to the prime minister is a key development. a new relationship has been formed. that's why this meeting was crucial both with the kurdish leaders and leaders in baghdad on thursday. >> what drove that breakthrough? is it because the region is so important economically for turkey? >> that's absolutely

imran kahn, al jazerra, baghdad. >>> u.s.retary of state john kerry is on his way to london ahead of talks with iran, world powers are meet to go hammer out a long-determine deal over iran's nuclear program. the u.s. and its partners wants iran to cut its enrichment capability significantly. iran says it's asking for too much and wants a guarantee that sanctions will be reduced before making any cuts. the currents interim deal expires next monday. u.s. state department is checking its computers systems after a suspected hacking attack. the unclassified e-mail system and some public websites had to be shutdown for security updates. officials say the attack happened in october, around the same time the white house announced some of its computers were hacked think we were told no classified documents were compromised. >>> dozens of protesters filled the streets of jerusalem overnight. the demonstrations began after a palestinian bus driver was found hanged inside his vehicle. israelii officials show the man's up shows he committ

imran kahn has this exclusive report from a town south of kirkuk. >> reporter: she has nowhere to go, 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 devastation