IS says to execute six Iraqi security men unless female prisoners released

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – The Islamic State group has threatened to execute six Iraqi men it kidnapped last week unless authorities in Baghdad release Sunni Muslim female prisoners within three days.

The IS made the threat in a video it released on its Amaq propaganda agency, showing six men, their faces covered in bruises.

The men were found to be members of the Iraqi police and al-Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), who were kidnapped last week on a road linking Baghdad to Kirkuk.

Three of the men said that they are from Karbala, while one was originating from Anbar.

A group of Islamic State militants executed on Monday six people, including two pro-government fighters, a few hours after kidnapping them.

“IS militants wearing Iraqi military uniforms set up a fake checkpoint on the road linking between Ein el-Azab village in Al-Shirqat district and al-Hadar Island in southern Mosul,” Captain Abdel Khaleq al-Eifan from the Iraqi rapid response forces told Turkey’s news agency Anadolu.

The IS terrorists managed to kidnap six people, including four workers and two members of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi after examining their IDs, Captain al-Eifan said.

The bodies of the six people were found at a desert area a few hours after the kidnapping, he noted, adding that the victims were found shackled and shot in their heads and backs, meaning that they were executed by the IS militants.