Iraqi troops hope to reach six Iraqi abductees before Islamic State executes them
IS fighters
The Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada quoted Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasool, on Monday, as saying that “Salahuddin Operations Command as well as other intelligence authorities searched for the abductees. He expressed wishes to “reach the place of the militants and the hostages before the end of the three-day ultimatum, set by Islamic State, before it carries out its threat.”
JOC’s mission, according to the Rasool, “is to arrest the kidnappers, not to negotiate with them.”
According to the report, the Iraqi government only has 24 hours, starting Monday evening, to carry out the conditions set by the militant group including the release of female prisoners, detained by the government forces, as per a video that the group posted on social media platforms, or else it would execute six Iraqis, held by the group.
On Sunday, the group made the threat in a video it released on its Amaq propaganda agency, showing six men, with their faces covered in bruises. The detainees were members of the Iraqi police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), who were kidnapped last week on a road linking Baghdad to Kirkuk.