ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State has reportedly killed hundreds of former military and police officers who were part of Iraqi security forces during Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime, the Iraqi vice president announced. Vice President Osama Nujaifi, speaking in a press conference Thursday held in Tal Afar, said “In the few past days, ISIS militias have killed 300 former police and [army] officers in Mosul.” The Islamic State had earlier demanded former Iraqi Army officers join the group’s fighters in Mosul, a source inside the jihadist-held city told Rudaw on condition of anonymity. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, fell to ISIS militants last year. There are an estimated 700,000 civilians still inside the jihadi-held city. Nujaifi met a group of tribal leaders in Tal Afar, a key town west of Mosul, on Thursday to discuss the long-awaited plan to liberate Mosul, the extremists’ self-proclaimed capital. “The Iraqi government is doing well in establishing military teams and organizing local tribal forces as well as cooperating with the Kurdistan region and international community in the war against ISIS,” Nujaifi said. In his recent efforts to bolster the counter-ISIS campaign, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi visited Kurdish leaders in Erbil on April 6 to reach an agreement on the involvement of Peshmerga forces in the liberation of Mosul. This week, Abadi traveled to Washington on an official visit to seek more military and financial support from the US in the fight against ISIS.
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