KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region — The town of Taza south of Kirkuk recently became the latest target of Islamic State (ISIS) chemical attacks where 2-year-old Fatima lost her life and her family badly wounded. “They fired rockets and one of them landed right in front of our door, near my daughter whose hands, arms and abdomen were burnt right away,” Samir Ahmad told Rudaw. Ahmad said that when his wife picked up the little girl her own hands and body were burnt, too. Fatima’s mother is now being treated with 17 other victims of ISIS chemical attacks in a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The town of Taza is home to a majority Turkmen Shiites. It has come under constant attacks with mortar shells from the nearby town of Bashir. Bashir itself has been the site of endless battles between ISIS militants and Turkmen Shiite militia in the last two years. “Someone must take the leadership and liberate Bashir for us,” said Khadija Ali, the little girl’s aunt. “The army has come but why don’t they do it?” “This week alone 370 of us have been wounded,” she cried. “God doesn’t accept this.” Shiite militia commanders for their part, say they need more time to wrest control of the area from ISIS despite Iraqi army reinforcements. “We have come to the help of people in the area and as Hashd al-Shabi we have spoken with the army but it takes time for a final decision to be made,” Wisam al-Husseini, a Turkman militia leader told Rudaw.
