12 May 2019 - 22:27

IS still threatening Iraq, senior Peshmerga official tells Kurdpress

<p style="text-align: left;">The Secretary-General of the Kurdish forces of Peshmerga warned the threat of the militants of the Islamic State (IS) is not over and Peshmerga officials are in talks with Iraqi army authorities in order to hold a joint military drill to annul the threat of the terrorist group that was announced as being defeated by Iraqi army but many believe it is still a big threat to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in the north.

Jabbar Yawar told Kurdpress in an interview that the threat of the IS is not over as its self-called caliphate has ended in Iraq and Syria but it still exists in the two countries, adding that the group is conducting operations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya and some other states in Africa and even Europe and the situation proves the threat of the group is not over.

From 2017 when former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the defeat of the IS in Iraq officially, to the end of 2018 the group conducted 456 terrorist attacks in which some 1771 people were killed, injured or kidnapped and it has also conducted some 100 terrorist attacks since the start of 2019 and some 600 people have been killed, wounded or kidnapped, Yawar stated and said the attacks had been mostly conducted in the provinces of Dyali, Salahaddin and Kirkuk.

The Peshmerga official further revealed there are almost 2000 active IS members in Iraq and Syria and the main security problem is the sleeping cells of the group and a large number of the residents of the regions are in favor of joining the IS so that some people are common citizens during the day and are busy living their lives during the day but are members of the IS at night.

Yawar confined to Kurdpress that there are talks between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil over joint military and security cooperation between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga. He also added Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi ordered the formation of a joint committee between the two governments and the committee was formed and five committees were formed, within the attempt, in the provinces of Dyali, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, Nainawa and Makhmour region.

Answering a question about possible talks between Erbil and Baghdad over the return of Peshmerga forces to the disputed regions which both governments claim authority over, Yawar stated the two sides are in talks over cooperation but the IS is active in the disputed regions but neither Iraqi army nor Peshmerga officials are in the talks.

Reporter’s code: 50101

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