Peshmerga defuses 900 IEDs in liberated Kurdish town

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – In a joint statement on Tuesday, Peshmerga forces and NGOs declared the town of Jalawla in Diyala Province safe after defusing nearly 900 bombs planted by jihadists.

Jalawla is a Kurdish town located in southern Diyala Province. The so-called Islamic State (IS) took control of the area in the middle of June 2014.

In November 2014, Peshmerga forces attacked the area from five fronts and liberated it from the insurgents.

While Jalawla was under the control of IS, hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were planted in the town.

After two years of searching for and defusing the bombs, a Peshmerga engineering team and some NGOs issued a statement to the Mayor of Jalawla, Ya’qub al-Luhaibi, declaring the town safe from IEDs.

“The Peshmerga engineering team and NGOs, who were working on defusing the bombs in Jalawla, sent me a joint statement announcing that the town is no longer under the threat of IEDs,” Luhaibi told Kurdistan24.

According to the report, the two groups together have defused almost 900 IEDs in and around Jalawla.

The people of the town have returned to their homes but complain about the lack of services as IS had largely destroyed the area in 2014.

“Thank God the security of Jalawla is protected by Kurdish Peshmerga forces, but the town needs services to recover to the time before Da’esh,” Samir Hassan, a Kurdish resident of Jalawla, told Kurdistan24 using the Arabic pejorative term for IS.

Abu Ahmad, an Arab resident of the town, told Kurdistan24 that Peshmerga secured Jalawla and protected the entire town regardless of their ethnic and religious background.

“Peshmerga protects all of us with full respect for humanity,” said Abu Ahmad.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa
(Harem Jaff contributed to this report in Jalawla)