Kurdish official: ISIS executed own militants to stop more desertions

SHINGAl, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic State (ISIS) has executed more than 50 of its own militants as a warning to others about abandoning positions, after Peshmerga forces pushed the fighters out of vast areas of the Kurdistan Region, a Kurdish official said.

“ISIS has executed dozens of its own gunmen who fled from Shingal,” Ismat Rajab, a Kurdistan Democratic Party official, told Rudaw.

He said information had been obtained that the mass executions took place in the city of Mosul, which is still in ISIS control.

Some 8,000 Peshmerga forces took part in a week-long battle to recapture Shingal and the surrounding areas. Rajab said more than 300 ISIS militants with foreign backgrounds had fled Mosul towards the Syrian border.

“We have reports of ordinary people in Mosul who have attacked ISIS vehicles in the city,” Rajab said. “Things have begun to change even in Mosul,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government said its forces had recaptured the Tal Afar military airport on Sunday.

Iraqi media reported ongoing street clashes between Iraqi elite forces and ISIS militants in and around the airport.