Three Islamic State prominent preachers escaped from the group’s haven in southwestern Kirkuk to unknown destination along with their families, a local source said. “Three IS preachers in Hawija, Kirkuk, escaped along with their families to unknown place last on Thursday,” the source told AlSumaria News.
“The group stormed houses of the three preachers and inspected houses of their relatives in efforts to find them,” the source, who asked to remain anonymous, added. Earlier on the day, the group reportedly executed a senior leader, known as Abu Qatada al-Muhajir, for attempting to flee the town.
Hawija and other neighboring regions, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. The group executed dozens of civilians and security members there, forcing thousands to flee homes.
Further reinforcements from the Federal Police were sent earlier this month from Baghdad to the town, as the military command declared, late August, the end of operations in Tal Afar, the militants’ last haven west of Nineveh, and the approach of the launch of offensives for Hawija. Spokesperson of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command Yehia Rasool said, last week, there were 2000 IS militants inside Hawija.
In the same context, Several Islamic State members were arrested as security troops were combing the group’s recently lost bastion in Nineveh province.
In a statement on Friday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said troops found a child and arrested 14 females members in Aiyadhiya region, located near Tal Afar.
Thirteen of the arrested members were Turkish national and a Russian one with sixteen children with them. They were arrested in Qasabet al-Ra’ie village at the outskirts of Aiyadhiya. Speaking to Sputnik, a source said the children and women were families of the foreign IS members
A security source and eyewitness were quoted on Wednesday as saying that IS female members, most of whom were foreigners, turned in themselves to Iraqi troops. Around 1,000 foreign women from Turkey, Tajikistan, Russia, Azerbaijan and China, left Aiyadhiya along with their children.
The women were transferred to Hammam al-Alil camp, allocated for the displaced, in south of Mosul. They are under high security and are being interrogated. Another source from the camp said IS women arrived today to the camp on board for more than fifteen buses.
On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasool, spokesperson of the Joint Operations Command, said in a statement that army troops, backed by fighter jets, killed 65 militants, including 15 suicide bombers, during an operation to purge the village, located west of Aiyadhiya.
Iraqi troops were able to liberate Tal Afar on August 31. PM Haidar al-Abadi announced in a televised speech on August 20 the beginning of operations to recapture the town, which has been held by the militants since 2014, when the extremist group first emerged to proclaim its self-styled ‘caliphate’. This came after 40 days of declaring victory in Mosul, the group’s former capital, where operations lasted between October to July.
In Ramadi, U.S. artillery forces bombarded a group of Islamic State militants who sneaked to an area south of the city of Ramadi in Anbar, a military source was quoted saying on Friday. Baghdad Today quoted a source at the Habbaniya base, located between Ramadi and Fallujah, intensely bombarded al-Tash Islands, south of Ramadi, after a group of Islamic State members sneaked into the region.
Reconnaissance drones had detected preparations by the militants to target the military base with guided missiles, according to the source.
Islamic State has held the towns of Annah, Rawa and Qaim, on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, since 2014. Recent news reports have said military reinforcements were sent to areas near those towns preparing for an invasion against IS. and that Iraqi military aeroplanes dropped millions of messages on western Anbar telling civilians that liberation offensives were nearing, and urging people to stay away from militants’ locations.
. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command has, meanwhile, declared that its coming battle would be in IS-held Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk. So far, United States.-backed government forces have recaptured Mosul, Islamic State’s former capital, and the town of Tal Afar, a major haven west of Mosul.