IS names British female doctor as head of health department in Kirkuk

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has named a British national female doctor as head of the group’s health department in southwest of Kirkuk, a security source was quoted saying.

“IS selected a British female doctor from Sudanese origin, who arrived to Nineveh via Syria two years ago, to head the group’s health department after the group’s health minister was killed in an airstrike in Hawija,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AlSumaria News on Tuesday. “The doctor was one of eight doctors who fled London to join IS.”

The group, according to the source, “handed over the responsibilities of the department to the doctor, to be the first woman who heads that post in the group.”

Hawija and other neighboring towns, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. The group executed dozens of civilians and security members there, forcing thousands to flee homes.

Dozens of residents from Hawija and the regions in its vicinity escape to Kirkuk province on a daily basis. Despite the risky routes to the freed regions, civilians prefer death to staying under IS control.

Few thousands of IS militants remain in other holdouts in Diyala, Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Anbar.