SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The counter-terrorism service in Sulaimani on Wednesday announced the arrest of an Islamic State (ISIS) emir who killed two members of the Peshmerga forces.
The general directorate of counter-terrorism said its forces had detained Abdulwahab Salman Hamad, who joined ISIS in June 2014.
The ISIS emir confessed in footage the counter-terrorism service released that he had “beheaded two Peshmerga captives”.
Hamad also said he had participated in an attack on the Peshmerga forces near a bridge in Sleman Bag sub-district in January 2015.
He added that two members of the Peshmerga forces were killed and 21 others were captured in the attack.
Hamad said they took the Peshmerga members to Hawija, where they were put in cages and paraded down the streets.
In February 2015, ISIS released a propaganda video showing a group of Peshmerga forces in orange outfits hauled in the cages atop the beds of pickup trucks.
Hamad confessed that ISIS Wali in Kirkuk ordered the execution of the Peshmerga fighters. He said he had “beheaded two out of 10 Peshmerga captives” in Hawija.
“The other 11 captives were transferred to [the so-called] Nineveh state,” he added. “We were awarded each $100 for the beheading.”
The ISIS emir said he had participated in several attacks against the Kurdish forces.
Islamic State controlled roughly a third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017. Iraqi forces and Kurdish troops backed by U.S.-led Coalition forces as well as Iran-backed Shia militias defeated the militant group in 2017, but its members still roam areas of northern Iraq and northeastern Syria.
A number of Peshmerga fighters were captured by ISIS militants. More than 2,000 Peshmerga were killed and 10,000 others were wounded in the fight against the group.
*This story was updated at 09:14 p.m. EBL time
