ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – More than 30 Kurdish families used the cover of an ISIS religious crackdown to flee on foot from their homes in the town of Bashiqa. A Nineveh police official said the families, which include many women and children, sought protection from Peshmerga forces stationed near the city of Duhok. “The families had been forbidden by ISIS to evacuate the town of Bashiqa to the Kurdistan region or Baghdad. Women and children are among them and they all fled on foot,” he said. According to the source, the families slipped out of the ISIS-held town when the militants ordered all residents to attend early morning prayers at local mosques. “These families fled the town secretly and arrived at the Peshmerga frontlines. Later, they were then sent to Duhok governorate by the Peshmerga,” said the source.
