ISIS News Today: militants alarmed by tuberculosis outbreak in Hawija
Islamic State’s militants. File photo
Hawija (IraqiNews.com) ISIS News Today: Islamic State militants have been alarmed by an outbreak of tuberculosis in their Kirkuk stronghold, with some members executed to curb the disease, according to an intelligence source.
Sky Press, an Iraqi website, quoted the source saying that the group had quarantined and executed 12 of its members in the town of Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, after they had been proved positive with the infection.
The militants were so eager to maintain secrecy around the development that they had executed a doctor who unveiled the nature of the infection to the affected members, according too the source who added that a similar punishment was set for any future whistleblowers.
Islamic State militants have held Hawija since 2014, when they proclaimed an “Islamic caliphate” in large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command, which has led military action against IS since 2014, said in August it had completed preparations to invade the town and eliminate IS fighters.
So far, Iraqi government operations, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have managed to recapture Mosul, Islamic State’s former capital, and the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul.