Islamic State militants abduct 12 Iraqi people in Anbar
Islamic State militants. File photo
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – As many as 12 Iraqi people, including five security men, were kidnapped on Monday by Islamic State in the western province of Anbar, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to the Arabic-language Almaalomah news website, the source said that an armed group of Islamic State kidnapped 12 Iraqis while gathering desert truffles in Umm al-Jedaan area, west of Anbar province.
“Two of the kidnapped security men were found later dead,” the source said, adding that a search operation was launched for the other abductees.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.
Between June 2014 and December 2017, Islamic State seized large areas of Iraq and led a campaign of widespread violence and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law – acts that amounted to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible genocide.
Despite the group’s crushing defeat at its main havens across Iraq, Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks against troops with security reports warning that the militant group still poses a threat against stability in the country.
The jihadist group had seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, when it proclaimed a “caliphate” and imposed its rule over some 10 million people.