ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Islamic State (ISIS) militants abducted a Kurdish man from his home in Kirkuk province on Tuesday night, a Peshmerga told Rudaw English on Wednesday.
Sherzad Mawlud, a farmer, was kidnapped from his home in the town of Sargaran, Qarachogh Ghazi, a Peshmerga volunteer in the region told Rudaw English on Wednesday.
“ISIS is very active in the region, to the point that they have complete control at night,” Ghazi said.
Iraqi army soldiers and local residents have begun a search for Mawlud, he added.
Though ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, lack of coordination between security forces in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad - largely in Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Diyala provinces - has created a security vacuum that group’s sleeper cells exploit to carry out ambushes, attacks and kidnappings.
In December, two men from Kirkuk’s Daquq district were released by ISIS after six months in captivity. Their families had to pay $40,000 for their release.
Three farmers were abducted near Salahaddin's Tuz Khurmatu by ISIS militants in March.
Police and soldiers are often targeted by ISIS.
At least one policeman was killed and three others were injured in an attack in February.
The Peshmerga ministry said in a statement on February 3 that they had deployed forces to Makhmour and Mount Qarachogh “as a result of security threats imposed by ISIS.”
