PESHMERGA WILL LIBERATE ISIS-HELD HAWIJA, SAYS KIRKUK GOVERNOR

PESHMERGA WILL LIBERATE ISIS-HELD HAWIJA, SAYS KIRKUK GOVERNOR.

HAWIJA — Peshmerga forces have come to an end on preparations to launch an operation to regain the Islamic State (ISIS) held town of Hawija, Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim said on Sunday (August 13).

There is consultation preceding between Peshmerga and the Iraqi army on the way the anti-ISIS operation must go. Karim said Baghdad has yet to have a say and this has resulted in the postponement of the operation.

“Peshmerga forces are protecting all the Kirkuk communities. It was Peshmerga who fought against Daesh [ISIS] when Kirkuk came under attack. Peshmerga will rescue Hawija,” Karim said during a visit to the Peshmerga defensive lines in Daquq.

“Peshmerga are fully prepared to regain Hawija, they are waiting for a response from Iraqi government,” he added.

Peshmerga forces repelled an attack launched by ISIS militants late on Friday (August 11) in Daquq, south of Kirkuk.

Three Peshmerga were killed and another seven wounded due to the ISIS attack.

Hawija has population of about 245,000, and is a mostly Sunni-Muslim inhabited district which has led to dissatisfaction among Sunni officials against any mention of Shia militia participation in the Hawija offensive.

ISIS militants have been active in and around Kirkuk since the group’s rampage across Iraq in 2014 and the governorate’s Hawija district remains one of the group’s two remaining militant strongholds in the country.

Kurdish and U.S. special forces went into Hawija in October 2015 looking to rescue what were believed to have been Kurdish prisoners of war, and perhaps a group of Peshmerga missing in action.

Up to 69 men were rescued in the raid, although none of them were the Kurdish hostages.

(NRT)