ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Three farmers were abducted near Salahaddin province’s Tuz Khurmatu on Sunday evening by Islamic State (ISIS) militants, officials confirmed to Rudaw on Monday. Hassan Zain al-Abidin, mayor of the city, said that “on Sunday evening, some Daesh (Arabic acronym for ISIS) militants abducted three farmers,” he told Rudaw’s Sirwan Abbas on Monday. “Their fate is still unknown.” Abidin added that the abducted are Sunni Arabs and residents of Hlewa village, located ten kilometers west of Tuz Khurmatu. The mayor said they had issued warnings to residents of the district to avoid going to areas where ISIS operates, especially areas around Hlewa and Zarga villages. Ali Hussein, a spokesperson for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) in areas dubbed the Northern Axis, which includes Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu, told Rudaw on Monday that the farmers had gone out to fix water pumps. When they didn’t return, their families called them and their abductors answered, identifying themselves as ISIS. He added that no news of the men’s conditions or ransom demands have been communicated from the militants to the families yet. A lack of coordination between security forces in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad - largely in Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Diyala provinces - has created a security vacuum that ISIS sleeper cells exploit to carry out ambush, attacks and kidnappings. Col. Wayne Marotto, spokesperson for the global coalition against ISIS said on Sunday that the coalition jets have conducted 133 attacks on Qarachogh Mountain. He added that 61 hideouts, 24 caves and a number of terrorists were targeted. Yehia Rasool, spokesperson for PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces, said on Saturday that the series of attacks were carried out in the span of 10 days. The Peshmerga ministry said in a statement on February 3 that they had deployed forces to Makhmour and Qarachogh “as a result of security threats imposed by ISIS.”
