ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State (ISIS) continues to terrorize members of the Kakai religious minority in the Kirkuk province, and some feel Iraqi security forces cannot protect them.
In the village of Topzawa, one local says security forces are failing to root out ISIS’ presence.
“The Kakei village surrounding is all plain fields, and any ISIS moves
should be noticed easily,” Sarmad Rashid told Rudaw. “However, little has been done to stop them.”
The Kakais are a Kurdish ethno-religious group who live in Khanaqin, Kirkuk and Nineveh in Iraq, as well as large parts of western Iran.
Topzawa is a Kakai village in the town of Daquq in the Kirkuk province. ISIS has not claimed any of the recent attacks, but locals suspect they are behind them and say there have been six since July 21. Local resident Hussein Ateeya says mortars have been hitting the town since July 25.
“ISIS militants shelled the village with mortars, and then they conducted ground attacks,” said Ateeya.
Residents were forced to defend themselves against the attackers, according to Ateeya.
“I rushed to the roof of my house with my weapon in my hands, I heard the ISIS militants when they attacked the villages,” he said. “I started to shoot them which also led the people of the village to start shooting them as well.”
“We made the ISIS militants to withdraw and foil their attack on our village.”
The constant violence is prompting some Kakais to leave the area for safer parts of Kirkuk, according to Najib Faris, who is from the Zanqar village in Daquq.
“More than 34 families left the village,” Faris told Rudaw. “Now we are only 13 families who stayed back.”
Iraqi federal police have bases in every Kakai village in Daquq, according to Daquq Mayor Lewish Sindi.
Daquq is one of several areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad. Iraqi forces retook the Kirkuk province from the Peshmerga in October 2017 during the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict after the September 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum. Since then, ISIS has regrouped in areas between Iraqi and Kurdish forces’ positions in the disputed territories.
Topzawa is a Kakai village in the town of Daquq in the Kirkuk province. ISIS has not claimed any of the recent attacks, but locals suspect they are behind them and say there have been six since July 21. Local resident Hussein Ateeya says mortars have been hitting the town since July 25.
“ISIS militants shelled the village with mortars, and then they conducted ground attacks,” said Ateeya.
Residents were forced to defend themselves against the attackers, according to Ateeya.
“I rushed to the roof of my house with my weapon in my hands, I heard the ISIS militants when they attacked the villages,” he said. “I started to shoot them which also led the people of the village to start shooting them as well.”
“We made the ISIS militants to withdraw and foil their attack on our village.”
The constant violence is prompting some Kakais to leave the area for safer parts of Kirkuk, according to Najib Faris, who is from the Zanqar village in Daquq.
“More than 34 families left the village,” Faris told Rudaw. “Now we are only 13 families who stayed back.”
Iraqi federal police have bases in every Kakai village in Daquq, according to Daquq Mayor Lewish Sindi.
Their presence is not without problems, though. On July 24, federal police were accused of killing nine members of the same family after mistaking them for ISIS fighters following the shelling of a local village.
Daquq is one of several areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad. Iraqi forces retook the Kirkuk province from the Peshmerga in October 2017 during the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict after the September 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum. Since then, ISIS has regrouped in areas between Iraqi and Kurdish forces’ positions in the disputed territories.
Talks are underway between Erbil and Baghdad to resume security cooperation in the disputed territories to try and stop the ISIS resurgence.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi also launched the “Will of Victory” operation against these ISIS remnants and sleeper cells in Anbar, Mosul, and Saladin on July 7.
