Hundreds flee ISIS-held Hawija with help of local smugglers

Hundreds of civilians flee the ISIS-held town of Hawija every day by paying local smugglers hundreds of dollars. They risk capture, torture and in some cases death. Their destination is the safe areas held by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

 

Hawija is an ISIS stronghold southwest of Kirkuk. From its surrounding villages people flee, too. Some pay $200-500 each to local guides to get them to safety.

 

ISIS has threatened to execute or cut off the limbs of anyone trying to escape.

 

One woman told Rudaw: “We witnessed ISIS beheading people; we saw them break people’s limbs with concrete blocks. The foreign fighters were the cruelest. They would tell us that anyone who tried to seek refuge amongst the Kurds would be beheaded. That is why to reach the Peshmerga fronts we had to pay a guide $500.”

 

In one day alone 800 people managed to reach the Peshmerga lines. Kirkuk authorities stress that the refugees can only settle in camps. They won’t allow anyone to settle in the city.

Ammar Sabah – Director of Kirkuk Immigration Department told Rudaw: “We have come up with a new plan to accommodate those people who are displaced once the attack on ISIS starts. We have built three new camps in Daquq and Lailan that holds about 2,000 tents.”

In recent weeks, they’ve caught at least 50 ISIS members disguised as refugees. More civilians from Hawija and its vicinities are expected to make the dangerous journey as plans for a military offensive against ISIS draw near.

 

“We help them by providing food and medical aid,” said Saud Asaad, a Peshmerga officer in the area. “We investigate the groups that may have ISIS members based on our own intelligence.”