By Hiwa Usamadin
KIRKUK, Kurdistan region— Police and security forces in Kirkuk have in recent days detained 157 suspected of collaborating with Islamic State jihadists, officials said Thursday.
General Sarhad Qadir, chief of Kirkuk province suburban police, said the raid was necessary as the volatile city had been “more vulnerable to unlawful activities including terrorism.”
“We have had a series of kidnappings, extortions and killings recently which could destabilize the situation in the city,” Qadir said, adding that some of those arrested were government employees.
Thousands of families fled the violence in southern Mosul province to Kirkuk as ISIS overran the area last year. Security officials fear ISIS could recruit the young refugees in Kirkuk for suicide missions.
“We already know that ISIS has recruited many of these young people and also sent many infiltrators,” Farhad Hama Ali, spokesperson for Kirkuk security forces, told Rudaw.
Ali said many of the detainees have already been charged with murder and abduction.
Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, are in charge of patrolling the oil-rich city of Kirkuk with a population of over 1 million people.
Kurdish Peshmarga forces entered the city in June last year when the Iraqi Army abandoned the city ahead of ISIS offensive.
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