“Since the Peshmerga forces have left the area, the villagers always carry guns. This evening, at 7 p.m., four individuals — three of whom were ISIS fighters — were detained by our villagers, and then handed them over to Garmiyan’s Asayish,” a villager who didn’t want to be identified told Rudaw.
Peshmerga and Kurdish security forces withdrew from Kifri following a federal takeover in October 2017. For the month of May, nine civilians were killed and 35 injured "in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict" in Diyala, according to UNAMI. Kirkuk saw 20 killed and 16 injured.
“They were in two cars. We surrounded them and didn’t allow them to flee. One of them wanted to blow himself up, but we shot near his feet, so he stopped,” the villager added.
All three of ISIS fighters were wearing explosive vests, while the fourth was a prisoner of ISIS. The prisoner previously had gone to the ISIS members to pay a ransom for his brother whom the terrorist group had kidnapped, only to end up being taken captive himself.
ISIS sleeper cells operate around Kirkuk province. Last week, on the Qaratapa road, they kidnapped a family of an Asayish (Security) member. They were asking for $70,000 as ransom for freeing the person.
ISIS refuses to do prisoner swaps.
As the group tries to revive itself financially, it has carried out attacks in different parts of Iraq against security forces and civilians.
