Islamic State has rest houses with five-star services in Hawija: Official
Iraqi forces in Kirkuk
“We did not record return of any family to Hawija as the operations to purge the town from explosives are still ongoing by the security troops,” Ahmed Khorshid, member of the town’s municipal council, told AlSumaria News on Friday.
“The huge amount of explosives, planted by Islamic State in Hawija, delayed the combing in Hawija,” he said. ‘Defense teams as well as security troops managed to remove more than 5,000 bombs.”
The militant group, according to Khorshid, “still owns rest houses with five-star services. These rest houses are in Wadi Zgheitoun, Wadi abul Khanager between al-Riyad and al-Rashad. They are still used by the group. They have all kinds of food commodities and electricity generators.”
In November, Khorshid described Hawija as the city of ghosts for being empty of its residents, saying that IS militants are still hiding at rest houses in the desert regions.
Officials in the province of Kirkuk had urged reinforcing military troops in the south and west, as the region still have IS members who escaped during liberation offensives of Hawija and mainly in houses and tunnels at remote areas in Riyad, al-Rashad and between al-Abbassi and Dibis.
The Joint Operations Command announced in October the liberation of each of Hawija, Riyad and al-Rashad. Over 1,300 members were killed during offensives to free Hawija, while over 800 members were killed during the second phase of operations.