Prde Residents Call For Peshmerga Return After ISIS Operation
Residents of Prde urge the return of Peshmerga forces after an Iraqi army operation against ISIS, citing a security gap, closed roads and emptied villages.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Residents of the town of Prde are calling for Peshmerga forces to return to the area, saying a security gap has left them afraid to move after dark. The appeal followed a large Iraqi army deployment and an operation against ISIS in and around the town on Friday night.
“All of Prde’s roads have been blocked and no one is allowed to move, and the Iraqi army has taken over all the town’s alleys so nobody can leave their homes,” one resident told Kurdistan24.
“The situation is very bad and we are in great anxiety. We leave our homes in fear, and if we stay out late at night, we are in danger. There is no use being outside at night.”
Another resident said Prde has filled with outsiders and that nobody knows who they are or where they came from.
A third resident said the situation “is not good at all” and that a security vacuum exists. “We ask that the Peshmerga forces, together with the Iraqi army, fill this security vacuum, because this is not a life for the people of Prde,” the resident said, adding that most villages have been emptied because of the gap and the dangerous conditions in the area.
A fourth resident described the situation as “very dangerous” and said, “We hope the Peshmerga forces will return here, because the Iraqi army has no familiarity with this area, and there is a large security vacuum.”
The residents’ accounts follow an announcement by Iraq’s Security Media Cell. The cell said on Friday that three terrorists were killed and another was arrested in Prde in a special operation backed by a precise airstrike from army aviation.
It said the operation took place at 8 p.m., that security forces were continuing detailed search and inspection operations, and that more details would follow.
The announcement came after several hours of reports from Kurdistan24 correspondent Soran Kamaran that an Iraqi army force had moved toward Prde and that the Erbil-Kirkuk road had been closed.
He said the deployment followed reports from residents who saw suspected ISIS militants and alerted security forces.
Earlier on Friday, Col. Samir Shwani, director of the Prde police station, told Kurdistan24 that the army force entered the town under the direct supervision of the Kirkuk operations commander because of suspected ISIS presence and movements in and around Prde.
He said the force temporarily closed the main Kirkuk-Erbil road, searched several locations suspected of hosting militants, and then withdrew, and that none remain in the town. Shwani added that the situation has returned to normal, though some military vehicles have been placed in certain spots to reassure residents until it is fully confirmed.
Kurdistan24 correspondent Hemin Dalo later gave a fuller account. He said intelligence information first indicated that a vehicle carrying four ISIS militants had entered the town, after which a large Iraqi army force entered Prde and both the Erbil-Kirkuk and Prde-Kirkuk main roads were closed.
According to Dalo, security forces targeted the militants in an ambush and by aerial bombardment in a village in the Prde area.
Three militants were killed, and the person who had transported them in the vehicle was arrested.
Dalo said life in Prde has returned to normal, but residents remain worried that ISIS militants have been able to infiltrate the area easily on several occasions.
Kurdistan24 has previously reported that ISIS militants carried out activities near Prde in recent periods, including the abduction of a Kurdish citizen.
That concern echoes what residents told Kurdistan24. According to Dalo, information available indicates a large security gap two to three kilometers from Prde has existed since the events of Oct. 16, 2017.
He said the extensive farmland makes the area hard to control and that ISIS militants often hide for months in the vegetation.
Farmers in the area have told Kurdistan24 several times that they cannot visit their farms after dark because of the risk of attacks and militant movement.
Dalo added that dozens of such gaps, which he said allow ISIS militants to move easily at night, have emptied most villages on the outskirts of Prde.
He said residents of the area are united in calling for Peshmerga forces to return to their areas so they can safely go back to their homes.