Kirkuk joint operations’ command called on the villagers south of Kirkuk to support security forces and hold arms in the face of escalating threats by the regrouping remnants of so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS.
Deputy commander of Kirkuk joint operations’ command and commander of Unit Five of Iraqi federal police both called on the residents of Hassan Shalal village in Daquq, south of Kirkuk to fully cooperate with the security forces to restore stability in the region.
“We also asked them to arm themselves to face militants of Daesh, Brigadier General Abdul-Razaq Salim, deputy commander of Kirkuk joint operations’ command told KirkukNow.
On June 30, IS militants stormed the village of Hassan Shalal and injured two civilians pushing the villagers to hold arms and fight beside the security forces in face of IS.
The security forces hailed the villagers and called on neighbor villages to arm and fight in cases of emergency.
“What happened in this village is a big incentive for the security forces whom see the villagers allying with them, men and women fighting Daesh,” Salim added.
“This is a message to the terrorists. We want to have full contact with the villagers and tribe chieftains.”
“This is a message to the terrorists. We want to have full contact with the villagers and tribe chieftains.”
The village of Hassan Shalal is 20 km far from the center of Daquq district, 44 km south of Kirkuk northern province, center of the disputed territories between Iraqi Federal Government in Baghdad and Kurdistan Region Government in Erbil.
It has been under control of IS militants from 2014 up to 2017 when IS took over one third of Iraqi territories including part of Kirkuk.
The sleeper cells of so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant ISIL lately escalated moves in the suburbs of the disputed territories targeting civilians and Iraqi forces.
On June 25th, five Iraqi federal policemen were killed and two officers wounded in a village of Daquq when they stood in the face of an attack by militants of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ISIS, sources told KirkukNow.
Early March, Tens of ISIS hideouts destroyed and several militants killed in an air-land operation by Iraqi forces in three disputed areas.
Following escalation of ISIS attacks in February killing over 15 members of Iraqi forces and tens injured, a wide range of operations launched in Khanaqin, Daquq and Duz Khurmatu disputed territories.
General Haidar al-Muteri, deputy commander Unit Five of Iraqi federal police deployed in Daquq district, thanked the villagers in Hassan Shalal and federal police for standing in the face of IS militants.
“We call on all the villagers to cooperate with the security forces,” al-Muteri said.
“I urge the villagers to return to their hometowns and share information with the armed forces so that we together protect the area,” he added.
“I urge the villagers to return to their hometowns and share information with the armed forces so that we together protect the area,” he added.
Currently only seven families have made it back to Hassan Shalala as the others are reluctant to return for security and economic reasons.
Most of the villagers have left IDP camps yet still are living either in Kirkuk or Daquq, frightened to return to their birthplace in fear of escalating threats by IS militants.
“We all men and women hold guns and fought against Daesh and will keep fighting for our village,” proudly said Falah Hassan Shalal, a resident of the village.
“We call on all the IDPs to return so that we protect the area together,”
“We call on all the IDPs to return so that we protect the area together,” he added.
The northern oil rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq's second largest oil reserves, is ethnically mixed province of 1.2 Kurds, Sunni and Shiite Arabs, and Turkmen. It has long been at the center of the disputed territories between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
Currently, Iraqi army, local and federal police, Brigade 61 of Special Forces along with Shiite paramilitary of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF, are under Kirkuk joint operations’ command, an umbrella for the security forces running the security of Kirkuk province.
