IS militants perform ‘farewell prayer’ in Hawija for second time in month
ISIS members in prayer.
Speaking to AlSumaria News on Saturday, the source said, “IS leaders including the group’s chief of Hawija, known as Abu Moslem al-Iraqi, gave a sermon and performed farewell prayer in one of the main mosques in the town.”
“Al-Iraqi said in his speech that what they have been controlling is vanishing and that the militants have either options to turn in themselves or to blow up themselves in battles to go to paradise,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.
“Iraqi handed over his powers to one of his assistants, who is a Hawija resident, before he bid farewell to the group and withdrew among others from the town,” the source said.
Earlier this month, the group performed the same prayers as militants were preparing to flee before anticipated military operations to recapture the town.
On Thursday, Brig. Gen. Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said the number of Islamic State members in Hawija falls between 800 and 1500.
Earlier on the same day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and Lt.Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command announced launch of first phase of operations to liberate Hawija and western Shirqat. Several villages in Shirqat have been retaken.
Hawija and other neighboring regions, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.