ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A police official said warplanes resumed airstrikes before dawn Saturday against ISIS bases in the occupied Arab town of Hawija, in southern of Kirkuk province, killing several of the extremist group’s senior members.
“The US-led warplanes pounded several ISIS positions before dawn at 00:30 on Saturday in Hawija, killing several leaders and militants of the Islamic state,” Brigadier Sarhad Qadir, police chief of Kirkuk province, told Rudaw.
“We have obtained information that six local leaders of the jihadist group are among the casualties.”
Hawija is a district of Kirkuk province, roughly 45 km south of Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk city.
The Arab-majority district was greatly altered by the so-called Arabization process of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussien. The once-Kurdish city has only two Arab families in 1940, according to reports.
The city has been under the control of ISIS for more than a year. Several months ago, 17 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were paraded through the streets in cages. The fate of the Peshmerga is still unknown.
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