ISIS takes family of Iraq’s defense minister captive

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Islamic State (ISIS) has taken captive dozens of family members of Iraq’s defense minister in Mosul, a Kurdish official said.

Ismat Rajab, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official for the Mosul area said that on Sunday, ISIS militants arrested 78 family members of Khalid al-Obeidi, Iraq’s defense minister, among them brothers and cousins of the minister.

According to Rajab, Obeidi’s relatives live in the Dindan and Bitarii areas of Mosul.

“All of their homes have also been taken,” he told Rudaw.

Obeidi, a Sunni, was appointed defense minister in the cabinet of Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi last month.