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ISIS movements detected in disputed Qarachogh
[Rudaw] Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (ISIS) Lions of Islam are moving around openly and levying taxes on villagers living at the foot of Mount Qarachogh in the disputed territory of Makhmour, local residents told Rudaw. Peshmerga forces control the summit of Mount Qarachogh, 60 km southwest of Erbil, but were forced out of the towns and villages of the valleys below when the Iraqi Army and Shiite paramilitias seized control of Makhmour in October 2017. Although ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December of that year, remnants of the group continue to operate in the disputed no man’s land between Peshmerga lines and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). Just like the Hamrin Mountains of Saladin province, Qarachogh appears to have become a strategic base for ISIS to launch attacks, abductions, and liquidations and to regroup. Photographs taken by one villager allegedly show ISIS Lions of Islam moving around in open daylight. Others say the group controls the villages, regularly demanding zakat (the Islamic tax) in the form of sheep and goats and extorting money. Ghazi Faisal, whose family fled their village of Allia Rash, told Rudaw the Lions of Islam are hiding out in caves and tunnels. Zryan Sheikh Wasani, the Peshmerga commander in Qarachogh, says his forces must be allowed to return to the disputed territories to flush out the Lions of Islam before ISIS regains its strength. Posted by: trailing wife 2019-04-08 |
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