Iraqi forces bomb ‘ISIS-held’ village north of Tal Afar
TAL AFAR, Iraq – Iraqi forces are bombing a village that the Kurdish Peshmerga says is still under ISIS control north of Tal Afar, though the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the “full liberation” of Nineveh Province on Thursday.
Rudaw’s cameras captured plumes of smoke rising over Qasab al-Ra’i, a village only a few kilometers from al-A’ayaziyah district. People can be seen moving in the village.
The village is located between advancing Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga.
Ashti Kochar, a commander of the Kurdish Asayesh security, told Rudaw English Thursday evening that those remaining in the village are “ISIS families,” and therefore his forces are not allowing them to cross into Kurdish-controlled territory.
He said that the bombing now taking place is being done by Iraqi forces.
Asked whether the Peshmerga will engage in the fighting, Kochar said that only if ISIS approaches the Kurdish positions, adding that they are not bombing the areas because “we never bomb families.”
Abadi and Iraq’s Joint Command both announced the full liberation of Nineveh province with the retaking of Tal Afar and al-A’ayaziyah.
Kochar told Rudaw Monday that some 300 families fled to the Peshmerga-held areas as the fighting intensified between the Iraqi forces and the ISIS militants.