In a worrying development, the Islamic State (IS) released a video saying that the group will execute six Iraqi men that were kidnapped last week on the Baghdad-Kirkuk Road unless female IS prisoners (some of whom thought to be related to the militants) are released from prison. In the video, which was reported on Saturday 23rd June 2018, the IS militants said that they would give the Iraqi Government three days to release the women. While videos demanding an exchange or release of prisoners are not unprecedented, they are more uncommon, with the IS favouring to simply execute their prisoners. In response to this video, relatives of the captured men called on the government to do more to secure their release, criticising their “silence” on the matter.
Since the liberation of Iraq in December of 2017, the IS has focused its operations on kidnappings and sporadic attacks thus reviving the insurgency tactics it carried out prior to 2014. One of the most targeted areas chosen by the IS has been Kirkuk Province and the Baghdad-Kirkuk road which has seen a spike of violence in the past few weeks. During the first few weeks of June, five truck drivers were kidnapped after unknown gunmen, who were dressed as security officials but thought to be militants belonging to the IS, pulled them over. A few days later, the bodies of the truck drivers were found on the main road.
This resulted in the Iraqi Security Forces launching an operation to root out IS sleeper cells in the province. On 14th of June, 2018, the 5th and 6th divisions of the Iraqi Federal Police announced the arrest of four IS militants, and the destruction of three IS sites. Four days later on 18th of June, Kirkuk Police announced that they arrested two IS militants linked to the IS’ so-called Wilayat Kirkuk.
Despite these arrests, a commander in the Diyala Operations Command, Mazhar Shahir al-Azawi, called on the Iraqi Government last week to provide greater security support to the province, especially on the main highway that runs from Baghdad to Kirkuk.
On Monday 25th of June, Counter Terrorism Forces reportedly stormed some villages in Kirkuk Province, searching for the six detainees and arrested IS militants allegedly linked to the kidnapping. As of Tuesday morning 26th of June, it has not been officially confirmed that the six kidnapped men were freed from the IS despite widespread rumours of their liberation.
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