170 Iraqis escape IS, shelter in Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Several families left their homes in the Islamic State (IS)-controlled town of Hawija in northern Iraq and moved to Peshmerga-controlled territories on Monday.

Hawija has been under the control of IS since the early months of the group’s emergence in summer 2014.

On Monday, about 170 Arabs who had fled their homes in Hawija entered Kirkuk province which is under the control of Peshmerga forces. Some of the escaped families shared their tragic stories with Kurdistan24 and said that they had walked for 15 hours to reach the Peshmerga frontline in western Kirkuk.

Peshmerga welcomed them and provided basic needs including food and water. Later, they were sent to the town of Dubiz for security monitoring.

“We have to do security checks when people escape Da’esh and surrender themselves to Peshmerga,” Mikael Omar, Peshmerga Commander on the west Kirkuk frontline, told Kurdistan24, using the Arabic pejorative term for IS.

Omar stated that these people must be questioned because “Da’esh often sends their members with people [who flee], aiming to create sleeper cells in Kirkuk.”

Moreover, Director of Dubiz Security Ali Mohamad Hadi told Kurdistan24 that since the emergence of IS near Kirkuk’s border, more than 3,000 families have escaped Hawija and surrendered themselves to Peshmerga forces on the west frontline.

Currently, the Kurdistan Region is home to almost two million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled from Syria and Iraq to the Region.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials continue to call upon the international community to provide more humanitarian aid for the displaced.

Reporting by Mewan Dolamari

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa