An estimated 500 unknown gunmen have been deployed along the mountain range between Tuz Khurmatu and Kifri.
Their identities are yet to be revealed. However, there are claims that the militants are remnants of ISIS or Sunnis standing against Shiite authorities in Baghdad.
“There are Kurds, Arab, English speaking people and people from all languages among them,” Kazim Adil, a local who guided the Rudaw team to the spot said. “This is their area. There is no one during nighttime to stop them from coming to the region.”
Residents of the villages on the outskirts of the mountain have no idea to whom the group belongs and what their future plans are.
"Some people say they are Sunnis... or say per their beards and heights, they must be ISIS," Kazim explained. "Some people say they belong to PUK, KDP, Nouri al-Maliki or Iran…But no one exactly knows who they are."
The Rudaw team wandered in the area for several days in order to obtain a picture or a trace of their stay.
Kurdish Peshmerga commanders were not willing to express any information with respect to the group.
There is information that the militants are a splinter-group from ISIS wanting to ignite a revolution in the Sunni areas.
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