Chapter 1328
Border Friction
Chapter 1328 Border Friction
The next day.
At dusk in the Kirkuk oil field area.
The setting sun dyed the western sky blood red, intertwining with the orange-yellow of the burning torches in the oil field to create a surreal color scheme.
The checkpoint of the 3rd Battalion of the Abuyu Brigade is located at the intersection of Highway 7 and the oilfield road, which is the dividing line between the southern Abuyu-controlled area and the northern Koldeid-controlled area.
Four soldiers sat lazily behind a sandbag bunker, next to a modified Toyota Hilux with a DShK heavy machine gun welded to its roof.
Sergeant Khalid was inspecting the machine gun's ammunition feeding system, the metal parts making a crisp clanging sound under the tools.
Not far away, the oil pumps, like giant steel woodpeckers, rhythmically swung up and down, pumping the black gold from the ground to the surface.
"A boring day."
Young soldier Muhammad yawned and adjusted his helmet. "I've almost forgotten how to fire a gun."
“Shut up, rookie.” Khalid didn’t even look up. “Cherish the quiet days. In Mosul, my brothers are ambushed three times a day.”
“But this isn’t Mosul, and those people are ours too.”
Muhammad gestured northwards, "We're over here, like two neighbors staring at each other through a fence. Why don't we just tear down the fence?"
Khalid finally raised his head, his eyes filled with the weariness typical of a veteran.
"Because they have what they want on the other side of the fence, and we have what we want on this side. And we both think the other side has the better one. But you know what, rookie? Sometimes the one who tears down the fence becomes the hero, and sometimes the one who becomes the traitor. The only difference is who wins."
Muhammad nodded, seemingly understanding.
At that moment, Khalid's radio rang.
At 5:55, the order came: "'The deliveryman' is about to arrive. Proceed according to the script. Be aware, there may be unexpected guests."
Khalid turned off the radio, his eyes sharpening.
He patted Muhammad's helmet: "Wake up, you've got work to do. Remember, whatever happens, stick to training. Today we might have to dismantle the fence."
At exactly six o'clock, a rusty Volvo tanker truck drove in from the north, bearing a license plate from the Koldestan region—starting with a red "K".
The car was moving very slowly, as if it were overburdened.
Khalid raised a stop sign, but the tanker truck did not slow down.
"parking!"
He shouted, while gesturing to the soldiers behind cover.
The tanker truck accelerated instead, its engine roaring and black smoke billowing from its exhaust pipe.
Khalid hastily opened fire as a warning.
The bullets deliberately hit the road in front of the car, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The other two soldiers also fired warning shots into the air as per procedure, the gunshots particularly piercing in the open oil field area.
According to the script, the tanker truck should have traveled 200 meters before its tires were punctured by pre-set road spikes, at which point soldiers would move in to subdue the driver.
Khalid got into the driver's seat and soon discovered the "smuggled weapons" in the vehicle—two pistols and several magazines.
But something unexpected happened.
The tanker truck had only traveled fifty meters when its left front wheel struck a sharp rock—not a pre-placed road spike, but a common type of rock found in oilfields.
Bang!
With a dull thud.
The truck's tire burst, causing the vehicle to veer sharply to the left and crash into a ditch by the roadside.
"Oh shit."
Khalid cursed under his breath; this wasn't part of the plan.
But he reacted quickly: "Surround the vehicle! Be careful! Do not fire without my order!"
The soldiers approached in tactical formation. Khalidra opened the car door; the driver was a pale-faced young man.
The guy raised his hand and stammered in Collegiate, "I just have a flat tire."
Just then, the sound of an engine came from the north.
Three, five.
Eight Toyota pickup trucks sped towards the direction of the Kold's controlled area, their cargo beds filled with Kold's armed personnel, some of whom had already raised their rifles.
The machine gunner of the lead vehicle aimed his PKM general-purpose machine gun at the soldiers in Abuyu.
"lay down your weapon!"
Commander Kold shouted through the megaphone, his voice echoing in the twilight, "Release that vehicle!"
Khalid's heart pounded.
These Kolds arrived too quickly, as if they had been prepared all along.
He pressed his earpiece: "Headquarters, the situation has changed. The Kold's patrol has appeared ahead of schedule, numbering at least forty men."
The battalion headquarters' reply was brief: "Plan B. Upgrade."
Khalid took a deep breath and shouted at Kold's convoy: "This vehicle ran the checkpoint. We suspect it's smuggling weapons. We must check it!"
"These vehicles belong to the Koldestan region; you have no jurisdiction over them!"
Commander Kold, with his thick beard, jumped out of the car.
"Release the driver and vehicle immediately, or face the consequences!"
"He cannot be released! He has weapons in his car! This violates our security agreement!"
The two sides confront each other.
Abuyu's soldiers numbered only twelve, but they held the advantage of having cover.
The Kolds were numerically superior, but were exposed in open areas.
Khalid saw Commander Kold gesturing for his men to spread out and form an encirclement. The atmosphere was tense.
“We need support,” Muhammad said softly, his finger trembling slightly as he gripped the trigger.
“It’s already on its way,” Khalid said, but he wasn’t sure.
Plan B implies that the conflict will inevitably escalate, but the battalion headquarters did not say when support would arrive.
Commander Kold lost his patience.
"I'll count to ten! Ten, nine, eight!"
When the count reached three, the accident happened.
Behind Kold's convoy, a young soldier in a pickup truck, overly nervous, saw a figure moving in the Abuyu bunker, assumed it was a prelude to an attack, and pulled the trigger.
The bullet didn't hit anyone; it just hit the sandbag with a soft thud.
But in the tense atmosphere, this shot was the ignition signal.
"Fire!"
Gunshots rang out instantly.
Khalid pinned Muhammad to the ground and then picked up a DShK heavy machine gun to return fire. 12.7mm bullets whistled through the air, tearing open the hood of a Kold's pickup truck, causing it to explode and flames to shoot into the sky.
The next ten minutes were pure hell.
The Abuyu soldiers put up a fierce resistance from their bunkers, but the Kolds flanked them from both sides, raining bullets down on the sandbags and kicking up clouds of dust.
Khalid saw two comrades fall, one shot in the shoulder and the other in the abdomen, their screams drowned out by the gunfire.
"Retreat! Retreat to point two!"
He ordered that the pursuing troops be suppressed with machine guns at the same time.
The soldiers took turns providing cover as they retreated.
The Kolds pursued relentlessly, but their chase was suddenly interrupted by fire from the flanks—three BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles burst out from the oilfield buildings, their 30mm cannons spitting fire and reducing two Kold pickup trucks to shreds.
The main force of the Abuyu Brigade has arrived.
"Counterattack!" came the battalion commander's order over the headset. "Immediately seize oil wells No. 4, 5, and 6 in the north! Quickly!"
The real battle has begun.
The Abuyu Brigade is clearly well-prepared.
Mortar teams established positions in the rear, and shells whistled as they landed on the Kold's defensive fortifications; infantry advanced under the cover of tanks, and the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and shouts mingled together.
The flares in the oil field swayed in the shockwave of the explosion, casting flickering shadows on the ruins and oil tanks, creating a scene resembling hell.
Commander Kold realized that this was not an accidental conflict, but a premeditated attack.
While organizing resistance, he radioed Erbil for reinforcements: "The oil fields north of Kirkuk are under massive attack by the Abuyu Brigade! Repeat, massive attack! We need reinforcements!"
The response was disheartening: "It will take time for frontline troops to arrive, hold on."
"We can't hold out much longer!" the commander yelled into the radio, but the sound of gunfire drowned out his voice.
As night fell, the battle intensified.
The Abuyu Brigade's night-fighting equipment was clearly superior to that of the Kolds.
The reinforcements that came later were clearly elite troops.
Everyone was equipped with night vision goggles.
These soldiers moved like ghosts in the darkness, precisely eliminating the Kold's firing positions.
The Kolds could only rely on the light from their vehicle headlights and torches, making them easy targets.
At 1 a.m., a large number of Abuyu Brigade combat troops arrived.
At 2 a.m., the Koldeid Line collapsed.
The survivors abandoned their position and retreated to towns further north.
Instead of pursuing the routed Kold's forces, the Abuyu Brigade quickly expanded its occupation of the oil fields and began to consolidate its hold.
Engineers laid anti-personnel mines around the oil well, bulldozers built earthen fortifications overnight, ten Kornet anti-tank missiles were deployed at high points, and drones silently hovered in the night sky, monitoring the northern horizon.
At sunrise, the flags of the Abuyu Brigade fluttered throughout the Kirkuk oilfield.
A black falcon on a yellow background, its talons clutching oil droplets.
The burning torch still flickers in the dawn, but its master has changed.
Khalid sat next to a wrecked pickup truck, bandaging the shrapnel wound on his arm.
Muhammad handed him a bottle of water: "Did we win?"
"For now." Khalid looked north, where dust rose on the horizon, and the Kold's reinforcements were finally on their way.
But the Abuyu Brigade has already built a strong defense, and what follows will be a brutal offensive and defensive battle.
“But do you know what, rookie? From today onwards, we will truly be traitors in the eyes of our tribe.”
Muhammad remained silent for a moment.
"So, do you think we're traitors, sergeant?"
Khalid looked at the blood-soaked bandages on his arm and thought of his fallen comrades.
“All I know is that three years ago, the committee allocated the best oil fields to the Barzani family, leaving our tribe to guard barren land. When Chief Abuyu led us out, they called us traitors. Today, we have taken back what is rightfully ours. Perhaps the definition of traitor depends on who is speaking.”
First update.
(End of this chapter)