WATCH: Nearly 800 IDPs flee from IS to Peshmerga front

About 800 people, mostly women and children, fled on Monday from areas under Islamic State (IS) control in Hawija to a Peshmerga front line, a Peshmerga Commander said.
kurdistan24.net

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – About 800 people, mostly women and children, fled on Monday from areas under Islamic State (IS) control in Hawija to a Peshmerga front line, a Peshmerga Commander said.

As the military operation to liberate Hawija city from IS nears, more Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) begin to escape from the region to Peshmerga front lines on a daily basis.

Peshmerga officers on the western Kirkuk front line told Kurdistan24 correspondent Soran Kamaran that IDPs flee from Hawija and surrounding areas for fear of being caught in the middle of clashes when the operation begins.

 

“Peshmerga warmly receives all IDPs, and they are investigated by security,” a Peshmerga officer told Kurdistan24.

IS often sends sleeper cells with IDPs to Peshmerga-controlled territories, aiming to carry out explosions in the area.

Pishtiwan Rashid, a Kurdish security officer on the Peshmerga front line, told Kurdistan24 they had arrested many IS members among the IDPs so far.

“We have the names of most of the IS members,” Rashid said.

“IDPs fleeing from IS to Peshmerga front lines pass through several security filters before getting transferred to camps,” he explained.

Previously, Hemin Dallo, a Kurdistan24 correspondent in Kirkuk, showed the arrival of hundreds of IDPs at the same front line who were welcomed by Peshmerga soldiers.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany