ISIS executes 8 in Hawija
Hawija (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants burned to death eight civilians, including an infant, for attempting to flee the group’s stronghold in southwestern Kirkuk.
A security source told Alsumaria News on Thursday that the militants had arrested the eight civilians, including two parents and their enfant, before the execution.
The victims were heading to al-Alam region in neighboring Salahuddin province, according to the source.
The militants caged the victims and poured tar on them before setting them on fire, the source added.
Islamic State militants have held areas in southwestern Kirkuk since 2014, when they declared a “caliphate” rule on a third of Iraq and Syria. Since then, militants have executed hundreds of security agents and civilians collaborating with security troops, besides executing civilians attempting to flee the enclave.
Local tribal leaders and politicians from Kirkuk have mounted pressure on the Iraqi government to hasten with invading Hawija, the group’s largest stronghold in the southwest of the province, suggesting that its people were experiencing a humanitarian crisis under the group’s rule as the group continues to massacre civilians attempting to flee the town. The Iraqi government and paramilitary troops are currently focused on recapturing Nineveh’s town of Tal Afar.
ISIS kidnaps civilians in western Anbar
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State kidnapped five families over attempting to flee from a region to another in western Anbar, a security source was quoted saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, “IS militants kidnapped five families in the middle of desert as they were trying to escape from Qaim town toward Rutba and took them to unknown destination.”
“Most of the abducted people were elderly and children with only three youth,” the source added.
Earlier on the day, more than 17 families reportedly fled IS havens in the towns of Annah, Rawa and Qaim, near the western borders with Syria, towards security deployments in Rutba.
Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the international coalition regularly pound IS locations in the province.
Anbar’s western towns of Anah, Qaim and Rawa are still held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them.
In late July, a military source was quoted saying that Lt.Gen Abdul-Amir Yarallah, commander of the Nineveh Operations, ordered to besiege IS havens in western Anbar preparing to invade them.