Peshmerga Kill Local Kurdish IS Leader

by Tayar Adil

BARDARASH, Kurdistan Region – A local militant, who had fought US forces in Iraq and became a local leader in the Islamic State’s (IS or ISIS) armies, was shot dead by Peshmerga forces, Kurdish security officials said.  

Yonus Assad, who was also known as Abu-Qazifa and was once arrested by Kurdish forces for his militant activities, was killed in an area close to the IS stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq last week, the officials said, speaking to Rudaw on condition of anonymity.

They said they were given orders to capture the wanted man alive. But he was killed after Peshmerga forces surrounded him and a band of dozen IS fighters.

“Peshmarga forces surrounded them in a valley with orders to capture him alive,” one official said.

He said the militants ran out of ammunition after hours of intense gun battles, then attempted to attack the Peshmerga with military-type daggers.

“The Peshmarga then made the decision to eliminate them,” the official added.

Abu Qazifa was well known to Kurdish intelligence. He and two brothers were arrested in 2000 by Asayish (Kurdish security service) on terrorism charges, but later released.

A vocal opponent of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Abu-Qazifa joined the fight against US troops in the Sunni heartland of Mosul.

After the Americans pulled out of Iraq three years ago, he moved to the Kurdish township of Bardarash, 40 kilometers north of Erbil, where he opened a bakery, according to the locals.

He returned to Mosul after the jihadis captured Iraq’s second-largest city in June, and joined the frontlines against Peshmerga forces.

Samir Ibrahim, a civil servant who knew Abu Qazifa in Bardarash, said the dead man had openly vowed to fight against all those who opposed the IS, including the Peshmerga, even though he was Kurdish himself.

“He said the enemies of the Islamic State were his enemies, no matter who they were,” Ibrahim said.

Relatives of Abu-Qazifa attempted to bury the slain jihadist in the Kurdish village of Kanilan, but were driven out by residents.

“We didn’t want to see him buried here,” said Muhammad Simko who is a mukhtar, or village chief. “They took him where he came from, to Mosul,” he said.