Assassins kill Islamic State’s chief vigilante in Hawija

Unknown attackers have killed a senior Islamic State vigilante in Kirkuk and humiliated his corpse, an intelligence source said Sunday.

An intelligence source told Alsumaria News that unknown attackers killed Abu Ayman al-Iraqi, Islamic State’s Hisbah (vigilantism) chief in Hawija, the group’s stronghold in southwest Kirkuk, and stuck a donkey’s poster on his dead body, understandably an action of humiliation.

The corpse was found with gunshot marks in the head, according to the source.

Islamic State militants have held Hawija since 2014, when they proclaimed an “Islamic caliphate” in large parts of Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in August it had completed preparations to invade the town and eliminate IS fighters.

Since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale offensive to retake IS-held regions in 2016, occasional reports have told of instances when unknown attackers assassinated senior group members. Those were coupled with other reports telling of divisions within the group’s ranks as Iraqi forces made progress on the ground.

Source: Iraqi News