ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish farmer in Kirkuk province has been missing since Friday. Some family members believe he was kidnapped by Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells, though police have not confirmed the claim.
Hardi Zainal, 37, went to water his cornfield but never returned, and his phone was turned off. Residents of the village have joined security forces in searching for him.
“My last call with him was at 7 pm,” Karwan Hadi, Zainal’s cousin, told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed on Saturday.
“He said he would just switch water sets in the rows and return. He had no issues, but he went missing between 7:30-8:00 pm,” Hadi added.
Zainal’s car was found near his cornfield the following day, and several footprints were discovered in and around the field. His family believes the footprints belong to ISIS militants, whom they suspect are behind his disappearance.
Ramazan Mohammed, another cousin, said Zainal disappeared at 7:30 pm.
“They [ISIS] took him. Their footprints are visible,” he said.
Police told Rudaw on Saturday that they have not found any link between Zainal's disappearance and ISIS.
As locals continued searching for the missing farmer, Iraqi security forces killed a prominent ISIS figure in the area in a sniper operation on Saturday. The army also bombarded several suspected ISIS hideouts in the province over the weekend.
Although ISIS has been territorially defeated in Iraq since the end of 2017, it continues to pose a security threat, particularly in Kirkuk, Nineveh, Saladin, and Anbar provinces. Alongside efforts to reorganize sleeper cells, the group has resorted to hit-and-run attacks, kidnappings, and bombings.
Between August 2024 and August 2025, the conflict monitor ACLED recorded 82 terrorist operations carried out by the group in Kirkuk province, including 38 explosions and 16 “incidents of violence against civilians.”
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