ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Peshmerga forces said Wednesday they thwarted an attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells in Salahaddin province’s disputed town of Tuz Khurmatu earlier in the day. Several shepherds were targeted by the armed individuals in the assault but were rescued by the Kurdish force. One of them recounted the attack.
“After a sleeper cell of the ISIS terrorist group launched a cowardly attack on several shepherds in the Tuz Khurmatu area, specifically around the villages of Duraji and Gharra, early this morning on Wednesday, a confrontation ensued,” said Peshmerga ministry in a statement on its Facebook page.
The ministry added that upon being notified, it “immediately dispatched units to assist the shepherds and local residents. The forces successfully managed to return the shepherds safely to their areas while the terrorists fled to an unknown location.”
One of the shepherds told Rudaw that several armed individuals, whom he suspected were members of an ISIS sleeper cell, approached him and started speaking in broken Kurdish.
“They told me in Kurdish ‘Come and do not be afraid.’ After this, I realized that they were from the group [ISIS]. I was carrying a gun. I hid behind a hill,” Abbas Mohammed told Rudaw, adding that the armed men started firing at him within a distance of 30 meters and he resisted until locals came to his aid.
“I had prepared myself to be either killed or fight back because they had previously taken some people and released them for ransom or killed them. I do not want to have the same fate,” noted the Kurdish shepherd.
A Peshmerga commander told Rudaw earlier on Wednesday that three Kurdish shepherds, who were grazing their livestock, were surrounded by six ISIS militants in Duraji village - which is administratively affiliated to Sulaimani province’s Garmiyan administration but geographically linked to Tuz Khurmatu.
“This is the land of our ancestors and we will not abandon it," Jassim Mohammed, another shepherd, said.
Many sheep were killed during the altercation but no villager was hurt.
Abbas' uncle said such attacks are frequent.
“We call on the KRG to somehow secure this area. They have not been indifferent but I hope they do more,” Luqman Majeed said.
ISIS seized large swathes of territory in Iraq in 2014 but was militarily defeated in 2017 after three years of intense battles. Despite its defeat, the group continues to pose a security threat, particularly in disputed territories across several provinces, including Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.
Sulaimani-based security forces (Asayish) said late Wednesday that they had arrested two ISIS suspects in the vicinity of the city.
Hunar Hameed contributed to this article.
