IS executes 12 locals in Hawija for contacting Iraqi forces: Kurdistan CT

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday killed 12 residents in Hawija city, accusing them of contacting Iraqi military services via mobile phones, Kurdistan Region security revealed.

The Counter-Terrorism (CT) department of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced IS extremists transferred 12 prisoners via trucks from Hawija to a forest in the Tal al-Baeer area located in Riyadh, Hawija Road.

“At 11:00 a.m. local time, IS shot the prisoners to death with the presence of their Security Chief Saadun Morshid Humairi,” a Kurdistan CT report stated.

The statement also mentioned the prisoners were accused by IS for contacting Iraqi forces and military services via mobile phones.

Hawija is one of the insurgent group’s strongholds in Iraq.

According to security sources, a military operation will be launched to liberate the area from IS after the eradication of the group in the neighboring city of Mosul.

Previously, the Kurdish CT stated IS had massacred 140 civilians in Mosul on April 3-4 for attempting to flee from the extremist group.

Some of the bodies were hanged on electrical poles in the Eslah Zirayi and Tanak neighborhoods located in the west of the city.

The group was also reported for disposing the dead bodies of civilians in the trenches dug between IS and Iraqi forces.

On Oct. 17, 2016, Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a military operation to liberate Mosul from the extremist group.

The operation is ongoing in the west of Mosul as Iraqi troops attempt to free the area from the extremists.

Moreover, Iraqi civilian casualties in Mosul have raised concern for most international human rights organizations. 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany