Halo Mohammed, Rudaw correspondent in Garmian, said Hashd al-Shaabi fighters entered villages of Tal Naqar, Saligo and Gilabat, before the army and police entered. They killed a shepherd named Jwamer in Tal Naqar village where Sunni Arabs live, and arrested five people in Galabat and Saligo. Two of them are students aged between 15 and 20.
Ali Hashim, Hashd al-Shaabi spokesperson in Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw: “The news is true. There is a reason for every action. These people appear to have been associated with ISIS. The investigation will finish by tomorrow and the truth behind arresting residents of this village will come to light.”
Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi troops on Saturday launched an operation against ISIS sleeper cells in the west of Amirli town and Ghaza area south of Khurmatu. Three Hashd Shaabi soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber.
Kirkuk province came under the control of Iraqi army and Shiite militias on October 16 after the Kurdish Peshmerga pulled out in the face of a major incursion into the city.
Despite Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s declaration in early December that the war with ISIS had been won in Iraq, the group’s sleeper cells have in recent months increased their hit and run operations against Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries.
The Iraqi army and Iran-backed Shiite militants have launched a number of military operations against the remaining ISIS elements in the Kirkuk region.
