A group of unidentified militants shoot a father dead and injure one of his sons in the district of Hawija west of Kirkuk on Wednesday, locals told KirkukNow.
On June 9th, late at night, eight militants storm a house near Nour settlement of Hawija to take one of their sons.
“They are Daesh militants. They want to take his son so the father and the residents stand in their face and come to clashes. The father was killed a one of his sons was injured,” a local told KirkukNow anonymously.
The locals emphasize the militants are affiliated to the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS yet no proof provided. The local authorities have not issued any statement in this regard.
Al-Nour settlement is part of Riyadh subdistrict, 33 km west of Kirkuk, administratively under the district of Hawija, 50 km south west of Kirkuk.
The oil rich-city of Kirkuk is home to about 1.2 million Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs, according to KRG figures in 2018. Kirkuk, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the center of the disputed territories where Iraqi security forces have taken control in October 2017 following the declaration of defeat of ISIS by Iraqi government.
The militants shot Arif Ibrahim al-Oubaidi dead while his son receives medical treatment at the hospital for a serious injury.
Last week, unknown militants have abducted two young men in al-Hamil village of Riyadh and taken to unknown destination.
“We think these acts are carried out by Daesh militants. Those abducted the two young men called their families asking for ransom,” a security officer told KirkukNow on the condition of anonymity.
“Daesh need money to survive in the villages west and south west of Kirkuk,” he added.
The turbulent security coincides with the putting in office military joint operation commands by the Iraqi and the regional government in Kirkuk and other disputed territories for exchange of intelligence information about moves by IS. The move was denounced by Arabs and Turkmen of Kirkuk.
The Iraqi army, federal police, rapid response troops and Shiite militants of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF launched a 3-day joint operation covered south and southwest of Kirkuk in trace of Daesh remnants.
