Four Kurds in Khanaqin found dead, decapitated

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Four kidnapped Kurds were killed and decapitated in Khanaqin on Monday, including a Peshmerga amid deteriorating conditions in the city.  

“At 1:30 a.m. on Monday four Kurds from Khanaqin, after they had been kidnapped, were found decapitated,” said Maj. Haider Wala, a member of Khanaqin’s security committee.

The four Kurds were kidnapped late Sunday night by armed men in the city near the border with Iran, about 30 kilometers south of Kalar. Khanaqin’s police, the Iraqi Federal Police and Hashd al-Shaabi all followed up on the matter, only to find the four decapitated and thrown into a gorge, explained Wala.

“The killed are Kurds and are from Khanaqin … among them is a Peshmerga,” added Wala.

ISIS has not claimed the beheadings, but the method is reminiscent of the group’s tactics used against those who oppose their extremist ideology. 

Also on the same night a bomb targeted a poultry house in Maydan village (about 42 kilometers southwest of Halabja), injuring an individual named Kamaran.

The deterioration of Khanaqin's security has been denounced by the residents, who have staged work strikes, closing down shops and staying at home, demanding the return of Kurdistan’s Peshmerga and other security apparatus.

Kurdish families have left the city because of the security deterioration. 

Khanaqin, in Diyala province, was under administration of the Kurdistan Regional Government until the events of October 16, when Baghdad sent federal forces to take over the disputed areas.