Three young men – two brothers and another relative named Saad, Omer, and Mohammed Jassim – went out searching for prized desert truffles in the Makhoul mountains area on Thursday, Jammal Aakab, media officer of the Saladin provincial council, told Rudaw.
“When they reached areas inaccessible to cars, ISIS militants kidnapped them,” Aakab said.
The next morning, “their corpses were found thrown in an area close to the road,” he said.
Another government source confirmed that the three, from al-Mashhak village, were kidnapped and killed by ISIS.
This is the season for desert truffles and people often go out hunting them in the deserts and flatlands. They can be sold for a good price.
Provincial council member Farhan Mohammed al-Dulaimi had previously warned people about looking for the truffles in desert areas, saying there was a risk from explosives planted by ISIS or left over from the war.
The mountain ranges of Makhoul, Hamrin, and Qarachogh are known to be hideouts for ISIS remnants who frequently carry out attacks on the local populations and security forces.
