ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Shiite militia, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, burned an Islamic State (ISIS) militant alive on Monday in the recently liberated village of Bashir, in southern Kirkuk. "Hashd al-Shaabi militants burned an ISIS hostage at a ruined home inside the village of Bashir," said a Rudaw reporter in the village. The reporter added: "The burned ISIS militant was a Saudi national. We tried to take pictures of the incident, but the Hashd al-Shaabi militants did not allow us." Peshmerga forces conducted an operation to retake the village and, on Sunday, declared that Bashir had been cleared of ISIS. The Peshmerga were called in to liberate Bashir following several failed attempts by the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces to recapture the village. Shiite Turkmen members of Hashd al-Shaabi reportedly participated in the liberation, though initial reports indicated that the Peshmerga had done most of the fighting in the village themselves. Bashir, a village with a Shiite Turkmen majority, was over taken by ISIS in 2014. Most of its residents escaped the radical group and took refuge in Kirkuk, only 25 kilometers away. Prior to the ISIS takeover, there were 1,800 homes, seven schools, and ten mosques in Bashir, according to official records.
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