ISIS kills 4 Kurds, kidnaps others in Kirkuk
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has killed four civilians and kidnapped others as the militants infiltrated into a village of Kakai Kurds, south of Kirkuk, Kurdish security source was quoted saying.
The militants sneaked late on Wednesday into Chechi village in Daquq town and stormed a house there, a source from the Kurdish security forces Asayish told Shafaq News on Thursday.
The militants killed four persons, including two women, and abducted four others from the family living in the same house, the source added.
Islamic State has executed hundreds of civilians and security members since it took over large areas in Iraq to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”. The executions of the victims were mainly blamed over accusations of collaboration with the Iraqi security authorities or for attempting to flee areas under its control.
Kirkuk has a mixed population of Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs. The southern and western regions in the province have been under IS control since June 2014.
IS holds pivotal regions that link between each of Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk, posing threats to the liberated regions.
Several anonymous attacks against IS members have been reported over the past months since Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, launched a campaign to retake areas occupied by IS militants.
Iraqi kop arrested for helping ISIS
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A police officer was arrested on Thursday on charges of smuggling the families of Islamic State (IS) elements from Nineveh governorate to Salahuddin governorate, the Ministry of Interior said.
“The arrest was based on intelligence information as security forces ambushed the police officer on a road lining between Baiji and Tikrit cities while he was smuggling families of the terrorists,” the ministry added in a statement.
The suspect was referred to investigation bodies for questioning and confessed to working with the IS terror group exploiting his position, the statement added.
Since Iraqi forces launched offensives last year to recapture areas held by the Islamic State, occasional news reports emerged quoting local officials and parliamentarians speaking about corrupt security members setting militants free in return for money.
Earlier today. Anbar’s local council blamed recurrent breaches by IS militants of the province’s security on corruption within security bodies besides what it described as the infiltration of paramilitary troops fighting the group alongside the government.
The United Nations had recently warned against “collective punishments” of civilians believed to have links with IS members. Authorities in Mosul had unveiled plans to isolate those families and send them to rehabilitation camps.
ISIS mutilates 23 in Mosul
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) The Islamic State has cut the ears of 23 of its elements over charges of “cowardice” and leaving the fighting fronts, Alsumaria News reported on Thursday.
A local source told Alsumaria that a judge of the militant group’s so-called sharia court issued a decision to cut the ears of 23 IS elements who fled the battles west of Nineveh governorate, noting that the punished elements were local residents.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source added that the group executed the judgment in a court in the town of Tal Afar (55km west of Nineveh). The group cut the upper part of the elements’ ears before taking them to prison.
Tal Afar, held by IS since 2014, has become the group’s most outstanding haven in Nineveh after militants lost their largest bastion, Mosul, to Iraqi forces earlier this month.
Since Iraqi government forces launched offensives to retake areas held by IS in 2014, the group has reportedly imposed various punishments on members whom they believed were delinquent on the battlefield.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi government declared victory over IS in Mosul, ending nearly nine months of battles, and said recently that Tal Afar would be the next target.