Im fully back to go this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up catalonia is leader fails to clarify if the region has declared independence saying he wants more talks with the Spanish Government the Philippines Army announces a major victory in the battle against isolating to fighters in the south and venezuelas president celebrates the outcome of Regional Elections but the opposition cries foul. Thank you for joining as Iraqi Military says its forces have captured the k. One airbase from Kurdish Forces just outside the city of kirkuk iraqi army and allied forces advancing on the city and have also taken a gas facility to the south is a disputed area and the Kurdish Regional government believes it should be part of its territory straight to al jazeera whos in erbil in Northern Iraq for so. Iraqi army saying theyre taking this military base how significant is this. Well firstly yes it is a claim being made on state television that this k. One base has been taken by the Iraqi Military that is being stalled she denied by the Kurdish Regional government and Peshmerga Forces and its important to recognize that but if this is the case then it is a huge a huge strategic importance for the Iraqi Military this space was taken over by the patient taking control of by the patient in two thousand and fourteen when the Iraqi Military fled and i saw offensive as a similar situation for the entire city of kirkuk thats what happened but we understand from our sources that it was critical for this base to be retaken by iraqi forces before they concentrate on moving towards some of the Oil Facilities in that area as you reported there we understand certainly at least one oil Company Headquarters has been retaken thats in an area that we were at a couple of days ago close to a place called el water where we saw a huge amounts of Peshmerga Forces had then been deployed set up some very serious defensive positions which defensive positions which were actually had been in place during the eisel offensive there but we understand now that that area has been taken by iraqi forces meanwhile the city itself inside the city of kirkuk were speaking to people on the ground there they say the situation is exceptionally tense we saw the governor of cocoa last night calling citizens anybody anybody with a gun to take up arms and defend the city weve seen lots of volunteers heed to that call of seeing pictures of roadblocks being set up tires being burned on the circumference of the city there and there are also fears. Because the city is so ethnically diverse there are fears of factionalism within the city itself there are a number of factors there who are sympathetic or going to argue with this move by the federal government so there are concerns for security within the city itself so i very tense situation and encourage what it is the Iraqi Government charly saying about their ultimate objective here. Well its been a bit of a rocky road in terms of narrative from the Iraqi Government the buildup to this offensive i mean its important to take you back to the parliamentary vote iraqi parliamentary vote in the wake of that controversial referendum on the eventual kurdish secession from iraq that folk basically gave a mandate to Prime Minister allow body to get forces into these areas and retake control of the oil fields we then saw in the last few days weve seen this build up of shia militias in iraq before shes getting closer to those patients positions and at the time theyre all the government was saying that this was just the standard redeployment of victory over i saw in the areas around. The critical moment however i think was last night when we had this statement coming from the from the government saying that or accusing the k r j of deploying p. K. K. Fighters fighters with an organization that the Iraqi Government indeed the entire International Community see as being terrorists now the k r g flatly denied this accusation but it was then that Prime Minister basically said that this was a declaration of war he is saying however that the people of kirkuk should remain calm and that this offensive is not directed at them and that they should cooperate with the Iraqi Military but of course that is not in any way laying the fears of the people of kirkuk as we speak ok charlie thank you very much for that John Stratford live for us in Northern Iraq. In other world news just hours before a deadline from the Spanish Government catalonia leader has failed to declare if his region plans to secede from spain madrid had given callous but demand until monday to see if he would declare independence after a band to session referendum earlier this month the catalan president has instead sent a letter to the Spanish Government calling for a meeting with the Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy in his letter the nida says my first request is to reverse the repression against the people and government my second request is to set up a meeting as soon as possible so that we can discuss the first agreements my governments priority is to seek a path to dialogue with our most intensity led score straight to me back i was in his capital barcelona for us so tell us more about carlos put him on a message in this letter to madrid meet. With the deadline appears to have been and gone and it isnt the clarification that perhaps the madrid government had hoped for it is perhaps more a reiteration of mr putin moms position the declaration of independence made last tuesday that seem to be similar to painlessly withdrawn in a bid to kick start negotiations in the letter sent to the madrid government the council and leadership have made also a series of demands through withdrawal of around Twelve ThousandNational Police the end to the prosecution of four prominent castle lands in madrid and also negotiations talks which seem something to be a bit of a nonstarter given the Mariano Rajoy of said that talks are just not on the table while the helpers unpick whats going on here in catalonia im joined by senior political analyst. First of all a letter thats not going to make the madrid government very happy but what do you think the response will be here in barcelona and the rest of catalonia it seems like the cotton heart is really. Or even functioning as if theyre really well assessed by a mediation. Makes sense because it is like more calm more thoughtful and like its rest so if you make a speech it has more passion and it can make different reactions in catalonia people are starting to be even more divided inside the ones that are supporting independence out there ones that are supporting to keep things calm and wait and give time for mediation and then theres the other whole weeks part of the population hes saying its over and were done with it just go ahead and declare formally independence without any suspension and it does seem a way of. Also being able to overcome opposing forces within the leadership oversee the left want this to be more than just a symbolic declaration of independence they want it. More moderates that would rob to see a more fulfilled processed this is a difficult balance for him isnt it i think both for him was very difficult positions because they are both struggling between the moderate and the more radical sectors from the supports. Some on its even more difficult because if he really goes ahead and takes an action like the caring independents that hoss very negative effects on his relation hes going to be the responsible for that so he very careful in measuring every single step of action. Is very very clear in the gauche ations talking to this is such an it is not going to happen is this a way of perhaps moving the goalposts to try and pull mr roy into the possibility of talks although do you think by channels are talks going on behind the scenes that we just dont know about. Just still a bit confused i think even if theres mediation the situation of a president of mine is to say no were not mediating it should be secret under covered and in silent. The fact that every single action from the Catalan Government is on such fast way without thinking about it without taking things it makes me doubt if many action has actually been accepted by spain are not so good thank you very much well very much political tennis by the sounds of it weve seen the ball hit towards catalonia its now being hit back to madrid but were likely to hear more now from my colleague paul brennan but for me and here in barcelona its back to you yeah and were going to take it to paul brennan now in the spanish capital madrid so how is the government going to be reacting to this letter home. Well there is little patience from. The spanish Prime Minister for the letter from the. Leader we are going to hear immediately from mr hoyer but his deputy Prime Minister is giving a statement in around twenty minutes time and well have i can give you an indication that the Justice Minister has already come out and said that the letter from the man is not valid mainly because it doesnt answer the central question of yes or no as to whether a declaration of independence was actually made back on october the first and as far as the request from tuesday to have these sedition charges dropped against those four people i can tell you that the reason why im standing where i am which is outside the National High court in madrid is because those charges have gone ahead the head of the Catalan Police has arrived here along with three other people on the sedition charges the case against them is ongoing this morning so theres been no capitulation or accommodation made from madrid towards the catalan brennan in measured thank you very much for that. The Philippines Defense minister says two senior isolates commanders have been killed in fighting in the Southern City of merari is kneel on happy lawn lead abu sayyaf which she sponsor of the city in may his fighters were helped by the multigroup one of its leaders omar mao t. Has also been killed Government Forces have been fighting the armed group for control of merari for several months now and Jimmy Rollins again has more from ari well the secretary of defense bill seen lorenzana has confirmed the death of is me alone happy alone and all more about what they both are leaders of the mouth a group they pledged allegiance to i still a few years ago and they raised its black flag over several parts of america we said see the siege has been going on for more than four months now since the crisis began more than a thousand people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced now the brother of omar about what they are doing the most they were killed a few months ago also in a military led operation seventeen other hostages were also released today and the government admits that even though the conflict the fighting is not officially over there is still an unidentified number of fighters and hostages right inside the small battle zone now according to the Philippine Military theyre expecting liberation to happen any time soon now the president is expected to show up this week where the philippine flags at the heart of what are we city will be raised for the first time in months. Still ahead. Anger and sorrow somalis are in mourning after at least two hundred seventy six people were killed in a bombing in mogadishu and zambian family celebrate. Years of drought but wont tell you why some a skeptical about their future. Nice pink skies by the time my heart. Or is the sun sets in the city of angels. Hello and welcome to International Weather forecast not the moment all eyes are at towards the west where post Tropical Cyclone ophelia is barreling into wards the island of arland both north and south will see really extreme winds but the south in particular a red alert right across the country for winds which is going to be gusting up to one hundred fifty Kilometers Per Hour the same time ahead of this system is still a lot of warm air pushed up right across europe central areas way way way above what it should be in terms of temperatures for this time of the year this is more like Early September temperatures he said there is still cold mine moscow there with a high of six degrees theres the rain across ireland from ophelia and that heavy on through and to choose say this frontal System Associated with it pushes across more southeastern parts of the u. K. But the warm air stays in place across central areas heading into north africa we still want to two showers heading through the gulf assert so tripoli is likely see some showers at times otherwise fine conditions further east with caro enjoying sunshine the highs of thirty degrees for central parts of africa still have quite a lot of heavy rain affecting cameroon and towards coupon liberal is looking fairly wet at the moment so choose the one that Lagos Nigeria is one of two showers in ghana also the for the north mali fine with bamako seen highs of thirty seven there with sponsored by cats own bodies. In the house trying to win News Coverage consists of a punch line a five second sound bite and an easy solution. Bill says challenge the status quo expose double standards and debate the contradictions join me. For a new season of the show the front page from. This time. Youre watching aljazeera live from doha a reminder of our top stories this hour the Iraqi Military says its forces have captured b. K. One air base from Kurdish Forces in care coq the iraqi army and allied forces are advancing on the city and have also taken a gas facility to the south forces of control the area since twenty forty just hours before a deadline from the Spanish Government catalonia as leader has failed to declare if he is reaching plans to secede from spain would you want us instead sent a letter to the Central Government in madrid are calling for more dialogue the Central Government had given him until eight g. M. T. On monday to say whether or not hes region had seceded from space. And the Philippines Defense minister says two senior isolates commanders have been killed in fighting in the Southern City of merari the abu sayyaf and now take observe been in control of parts of the city since may. To somalia which has declared three days of National Mourning after at least two hundred seventy six people were killed in the worst brummie in the years it happened at a crowded intersection in the capital morgan. Its not still not clear who is responsible catherine so i has our report from nairobi in neighboring kenya. Where people in somalias capital mogadishu are trying to come to terms with one of the worst car bomb attacks ever a truck bomb exploded outside a hotel at an intersection lined with government offices restaurants and shops hours later a second blast struck another Business District in the city most of the buildings in those areas have been destroyed still being pulled out of the rubble president mohammed up to live visited the scene and his government has declared three days of mourning and you know the. Target of these terrorist is not government officials but civilians as you see here there are no government buildings only civilians who are going about their daily life we have to come together and fight these monsters until we eradicate them from our country. Speaking to al jazeera the United Nations deputy special envoy to somalia say despite such attacks the security situation around the country has improved the great efforts have been made by the government to particularly secure the city but also other areas in in the country but nevertheless when one is desperate enough to get through these kind of things do happen and weve seen it yet again into mali and fortunately doctors are doing their best with limited resources to deal with the many people who have been injured dozens are in Critical Condition several have lost limbs so. What happened yesterday was incredible i have never seen such a thing before and the death toll is uncountable corpses were burned and no one could recognize them. Attacks on soft targets like markets and restaurants have become common in somalia says this in a part is just how large it was and the devastation it has caused right now people are in hospital supplies. My blogs are i did he needed many are wondering how someone is able to drive a view called packed with explosives into the heart of the city katherine saw all dizzy nairobi kenya. And hundreds of somalis of marsh