Kurdish villagers fend off Islamic State attack

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Armed volunteers from two Kurdish villages on Thursday repelled an attack launched by Islamic State (IS) fighters on multiple towns in the Diyala province of Iraq, incurring few casualties.

“At one o’clock this morning, IS members launched an offensive on both the Ashtokan and Glabat villages in the Jabara subdistrict,” locals told Kurdistan 24. “They fired many artillery missiles towards [us and our houses].”

“During the clashes, a person by the name of Raid Muhammad, a retired police officer, was killed, and another man by the name of Luqman was heavily injured.”

Jabara is a subdistrict in the Diyala province and is one of the disputed territories between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government in Baghdad.

Just a week ago, a senior commander with the Garmiyan security forces revealed local Kurdish residents had arrested a group of armed IS jihadists before handing them over to Kifri security in Glabat village.

According to a statement released by Garmiyan security on Wednesday, the criminal court of Kirkuk – Garmiyan sentenced an ethnic Arab resident of the city of Khanaqin in Diyala Province to life in prison. He stood accused of involvement in acts of terrorism committed as a member of IS.

It detailed that security forces arrested Muhanad Sabah Ibrahim in Sulaimani Province on March 2 after gathering information on the suspect for three months. He eventually admitted in court to being a member of IS and of carrying out acts of terrorism in the country.

The Sulaimani Directorate of Intelligence and Security, in coordination with Kurdish Peshmerga Forces on Wednesday, arrested three more suspected IS members.

Editing by Nadia Riva