50 families flee town in Iraqi Kurdistan fearing Islamic State threat
Displaced children who fled the clashes queue to receive aid from Iraqi security forces in Antesaar neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Dozens of families have fled a town in Iraqi Kurdistan Region feeling threatened by Islamic State militants’ activity in the region, Kurdish media said Thursday.
Kurdish Rudaw network said 50 families have fled the town of Daqouq, Kirkuk province, for fear of falling targets to the extremist group as 15 people, including two police officers, have been recently killed in attacks by the militants.
The network quoted Wasta Rasoul, a senior leader in the Peshmerga forces, saying that Islamic State militants are making use of the security void between locations of Peshmerga and Iraqi government forces. He recommended the formation of a joint force from the federal government and the region’s government to resolve the security issue in those locations.
The suggestion of a combined force was discussed by defense officials from Baghdad and Erbil but to no avail.
Iraq declared late 2017 it retook all territories under IS extremists’ control, but remnant cells continue to pose a security threat at some regions.