ISIS takes 5 people hostage in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A group of ISIS militants abducted five people including member of a prominent Kakai in a Kirkuk village.

 

Jamal Shakur, a PUK official in Kirkuk, told Rudaw that the five were kidnapped at the Zanqar village in west Daquq.

 

“The name of one of the abductees is Farhad, the brother of Zaiya Agha, a prominent figure among the Kakais in the region,” revealed Shakur.

 

The other four were Arab laborers.

 

He said all their fates are unknown.

 

The PUK leader explained that since October 16 events, “ISIS has gone to the villages in this area multiple times.”

 

He said, although Iraqi army and Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi groups are present in the area “bringing ISIS movements under control is not easy.”

 

A spokesperson from Hashd al-Shaabi said on Monday that their forces and the Iraqi Federal Police repulsed an attack by 20 ISIS fighters "who targeted Qara Tapa village which is located in the Dubis district in Kirkuk," adding that their forces have killed some of the ISIS fighters. 

Two of Hashd members were killed and 10 of Hashd members and some civilians injured.

Kurdish security forces withdrew from Kirkuk after a federal takeover by Iraqi forces supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries in October 2017.

 

Kirkuk is a disputed or Kurdistani city that is diverse and claimed by Baghdad and Erbil.

 

Kurdish authorities would like to see their security apparatus redeployed to the disputed areas to better provide safety for locals.