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Iraq
Zarga Bridge in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq, soon after it was retaken from the Islamic State group (ISIS) by the Kurdish Peshmerga, October 2014. File photo: Fazel Hawramy / Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) suspects kidnapped two Kurdish brothers near Tuz Khurmatu on Saturday night, confirmed a local mayor.
"The abducted are two Kurdish brothers named Qani Jalal and Hemin Jalal," Jamal Salih, mayor of Nawjul town, confirmed to Rudaw. "They were kidnapped along with their Toyota vehicle."
Salih explained that the brothers were kidnapped near Nalashkena village in the Nawjul area of Tuz Khurmatu while they were on their way back to their home in Kifri, in the Garmiyan region. They had been tending to their livestock near Salay village.
"The two brothers together with their wives and children were on their way back home after grazing their livestock," the mayor said. "The Daesh militants let the children and the women go."
The multi-ethnic town of Tuz Khurmatu is in Saladin province, about 155 kilometers south of the Kurdistan Region's capital city of Erbil.
The region has often been the target of ISIS militants’ hit-and-run activities.
Islamic State militants have accelerated their kidnapping activities in areas disputed by the Kurdish and Iraqi governments. The ongoing dispute over territorial control and lack of communication between Kurdish and Iraqi security forces has led to a security vacuum in contested territories along the border of the Kurdistan Region.
On Friday night ISIS militants disguised themselves in military uniforms and kidnapped another seven civilians at a fake checkpoint they had erected on the Qaratapa-Gulala road, Kolajo Asayesh commander Shamal Abdulrahman told Rudaw.
"The militants kidnapped the men and freed the children and women," Abdulrahman told Rudaw.
Qaratapa and Gulala are two predominately Kurdish towns located in Diyala province.
According to Asayesh intelligence information, there were 15 ISIS militants involved in the kidnapping.
All of the civilians kidnapped on Friday were Arabs, according to Abdulrahman.
ISIS took control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, including some Kurdish areas. Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga overcame the militant group with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, declaring them defeated in Iraq in December 2017.
However, the group continues to maintain an active presence in Iraq, particularly in the disputed territories, carrying out hit-and-run attacks against security forces, abductions of civilians and officials, and bombings in populated areas.
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