ISIS executes 12 captives near Hawija for trying to contact Iraqi security
ISIS executed a dozen prisoners accused of trying to contact Iraqi security via cell phone in a forest near Hawija, according to a statement by the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) a day after Iraqi officials had said ISIS fighters who defected would be tried justly if they surrendered.
According to our Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), today [Sunday] ISIS killed 12 prisoners in Tal Al-Baeer area on the Riyaz-Hawija Road, the KRSC announced late on Monday night.
KRSC did not announce why the prisoners were being held or whether they were civilians or captured fighters, just that they were accused of trying to contact Iraqi government entities.
The executions took place just southeast of ISIS-held Hawija, according to the KRSC.
They were transferred from Hawija prison in a truck and shot at 11 [a.m.] in [the] presence of ISIS security chief Saadon Morshid Humairi, the statement announced on Twitter added. ISIS accused them of contact with Iraqs army and security services using mobile phones. They were killed in the nearby forest.
Hawija and western Mosul remain as two major population centers under ISIS control.
Over the weekend the Iraqi commander of Nineveh Operations said as many as 200 ISIS fighters have defected from battlefields, and the militants would face judges and be tried justly.
A large number of ISIS militants have surrendered to the security forces and it is ongoing, said Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri, adding that Upon the request of the surrendering militants, the general commander of the armed forces has guaranteed the militants that they will be tried just and their lives will be protected until the court has issued their verdicts per their crimes.
Hassan Adlibi, ISIS preacher said during his Friday sermon in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor that The head of those militants who defect war and apostate religion will be separated from their bodies if they are caught fleeing.
Iraqi forces, supported by local Sunni militia, opened a front against ISIS in the Hawija Plains in November 2016, but an operation to recapture has yet to occur.
Kirkuk city and security officials have long complained that the Hawija operation have been delayed with no real justification; thereby underestimating the security of the city.
Source: /Rudaw
