ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Recent ISIS video of caged Peshmerga being paraded through a militant-held village has ramped up efforts of the KRG to negotiate prisoner exchanges. Kurdish parliamentarian Dler Mawati, who serves as deputy chief of the Committee of Peshmerga Martyrs and Genocide Sacrifices Affairs, said an estimated 50 Peshmerga have been captured by ISIS with a larger number taken prisoner by Kurdish forces. Malawati said the KRG is ready to free those Peshmarga in ISIS captivity by exchanging hostages with the militants. “We intensified our attempts to free the hostages when ISIS showed the Peshmerga in caged procession on the streets of Hawijja. We now have two options: either to pay money to free our hostages or by exchanging ISIS hostages,” he said. Mawati added that the KRG is ready to even exchange by ISIS captives taken in Kobane.
