Popular Mobilization Forces Hashd al-Shaabi Command issued a written statement announcing that they captured the villages of Bîskî, Hatemiye, Qamusiye and Rembusî after violent clashes with ISIS gangs last night.

In its statement, Hashd al-Shaabi Command said that the road between Shengal and Baaj was taken under control with the liberation of the aforementioned villages.

The militia has launched a new operation by the name of 'Shengal Martyrs' against ISIS south of Shengal on May 23.

As part of the operation, Hashd al-Shaabi liberated the Kocho village,18 km away from Shengal, where ISIS had massacred about 600 Êzidîs and abducted hundreds of women and children during 2014's genocidal aggression.

A group of Êzidî peshmergas in Shengal broke apart from Kurdistan Democrat Party (KDP) peshmerga and joined the Shiite militia recently because KDP took no steps for the liberation of Shengal's villages that are still under ISIS occupation since 2014. Most of these peshmergas were from the Kocho village.