SHINGAL, Mosul Province – US-led warplanes pounded Islamic State (ISIS) in Shingal Sunday evening, reportedly inflicting heavy casualties, after the extremists began blowing up abandoned homes in the Yezidi-dominated town.
“Coalition warplanes conducted five airstrikes on ISIS positions in the Shingal neighborhoods of Qadisiya, Qasri Smail Bag, and the town of Nasri in Shingal,” said Brig. Issa Zeway, commander of Peshmerga forces in the area.
“The airstrikes followed our information to coalition warplanes about ISIS maneuvers in these areas,” he added. He said the raids had inflicted “heavy casualties” on the militants.
On Saturday, three separate ISIS convoys were destroyed by coalition airstrikes in the Shingal area, reportedly killing 24 extremists, a Peshmerga official told Rudaw.
Sunday’s raids came after the jihadis began using explosives to destroy homes in Yezidi-dominated Shingal.
“Daesh has bombed 16 civilian homes inside Shingal,” Zeway said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
"It seems Daesh militants in Shingal are now disappointed in ground battle with Peshmerga, so they began exploding Kurdish Yezidis’ homes,” the commander added.
Zeway said earlier that there were no inhabitants inside the homes. Shingal residents fled the region last year when the extremists made a surprise attack on Kurdish Yezidis in the area.
In recent months, Shingal has been struggling to recover from a devastating ISIS attack last year that unleashed a spree of killings, rapes and kidnappings against the area's predominantly Kurdish Yezidi population.
The region is still marred by sporadic assaults from ISIS against Peshmerga and other Kurdish forces protecting the area. The US-led coalition is carrying out frequent airstrikes in the Shingal area, targeting ISIS bases and troops.
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