Islamic State terrorists killed two farmers in the latest attack in Khanaqin

Islamic State (ISIS) militants killed a Kurdish man and his nephew just outside the village of Merkhas in Khanaqin, Diyala province on Sunday night.

The incident took place around 9pm, when four ISIS militants attacked four Kurdish and two Arab farmers harvesting their crops.

The militants, who wore military fatigues, left booby traps behind them.

Two of the Kurds managed to escape, but the other two were captured and shot dead. The militants allowed the two Arabs, who were operating a combine harvester, to leave the area, according to villagers

After killing the two Kurdish farmers, they engaged in a three-hour firefight with villagers before torching large areas of cropland around the village.

According to information from Peshmerga in the region, there were four militants in the latest attack.

The families of the victims have criticized Iraqi security forces, accusing them of failing to protect them from ISIS, as well as refusing to allow them to carry weapons to defend themselves.

“We called the [Iraqi] armed forces for help, but they refused to reach out to us on grounds they did not have orders [from their superiors],” said Hemin Shkur, a villager from Merkhas.

“After one hour, they came, but we could not move to the scene as they [the ISIS militants] had torched all these areas down here. Until 12am, all the youth among us stood guard for the village.”

Mekhas villagers are largely Kurdish Kakaiys, and consist of 400 families.

In the last three years, ISIS has launched three attacks on the village killing seven among them.

“They [ISIS] are a serious threat who have reorganized. They have militants including snipers and those trained to use other weapons,” Diler Shukir, a Peshmerga commander in Garmiyan, told Rudaw.

Source: Rudaw