An Iraqi security official and eyewitnesses, meanwhile, said a deadly gun battle near Kirkuk had broken out between two of the most powerful Sunni militant groups. The battle, they said, pitted the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is leading the battle with the Shiite-dominated government, against its Baathist allies and left 17 dead, according to the official…

According to the security official, who was in Kirkuk and spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Sunnis battling ISIS were from the Men of the Army of Naqshbandia, a group made of former Saddam Hussein loyalists, or Baathists. The two groups are allies of convenience with very different ideologies; the Baathists’ nationalistic, Sufi philosophy is completely at odds with ISIS’s extreme Islamist beliefs.

The battles took place in Hawija, one of the strongholds of the Naqshbandia. The security official said the fighting had broken out when ISIS tried to disarm the Naqshbandia, but an eyewitness from Hawija said they had been fighting over control of gasoline and oil tanker trucks captured from the refinery at Baiji.