Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has increased his threats against Northern and Eastern Syrian territories, and encouraged by this, ISIS has sprung into action in Iraq. In the last 2 days, ISIS has abducted 20 civilians in Kirkuk and Salahaddin.

According to a security official from Kirkuk, ISIS abducted 13 civilians including the village chief from a village near the Reshadi sub-district to the south of Kirkuk.

ISIS also reportedly attacked the Parepare village in Xurmatu and abducted 4 civilian Kurds.

Some of the abducted civilians managed to flee ISIS, while those who weren’t able to were taken to an unknown location.

PUTTING UP FLAGS

ISIS put up a flag in a village in Diyala after abducting civilians from the Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces. Reports say a group of ISIS members raided the Hadlexizer village in Diyala’s Bakuba town and hoisted an ISIS flag on the pole in the village square.

Villagers alerted security forces when the ISIS flag was flown, and the security forces arrived at the village to take the flag down. A search mission was launched in the area the gangs would possibly be active in.

GANG ACTIVITY CONTINUES

ISIS activity continues in Bakuba, the center of the Diyala province, and has increased recently. There has been a significant uptick in the number of attacks against villages and against Iraqi army forces and federal police.