Four Arab shepherds from Tuz Khurmatu’s Hilewa village went missing Thursday morning, with the district’s officials quickly assuming that they had been abducted. The shepherds had set foot in an area on the Hilewa-Daquq border, which falls between areas currently under the control of the Iraqi army and areas where ISIS activities are often detected.
“The four men were previously prohibited from entering that area by the Iraqi army, and made pledges not to do so,” Hassan Zain al-Abidin, the mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw English on Thursday.
Zain al-Abdin added that the army had confirmed to him that three of the men were released later in the day, while one of them allegedly still remains in the custody of the militant group. According to Zain al-Abdin, the three men have claimed that they were abducted by ISIS members, but the army remains unconvinced.
“They are currently being interrogated by the army… Why would you enter an area after you made pledges? Why would ISIS release you on the same day they abducted you?” questioned Zain al-Abdin.
ISIS has not yet claimed responsibility for its involvement in the incident with the shepherds, nor any other incidents in Salahaddin in recent days on their Telegram channels.
The group seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. ISIS was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but has continued to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and kidnappings across several provinces.
In its propaganda magazine last month, ISIS claimed to have conducted six operations in Iraq during March.
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