Members of Daesh Takfiri militant group have reportedly executed more than two dozen young men in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk as the terrorists continue committing crimes against humanity in various parts of the crisis-hit Arab country.
Muhammed Tamim, a legislator from Kirkuk with the Arab Front for National Dialogue political party, told Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that Daesh terrorists killed at least 25 people in secret prison in the town of Hawijah, located about 282 kilometers (175 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, on Thursday.
Tamim added that the victims were residents of al-Abbasi, al-Zab and Riyad districts of the town. They were executed either by firing squad or decapitation on charges of collaboration with Iraqi security personnel or attempts to escape from Hawijah towards areas under the control of Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
On August 15, Daesh extremists placed 25 local residents of Hawijah inside a booby-trapped house and then blew up the building.
An informed source, requesting not to be named, said Daesh members had accused the victims of espionage and collaboration with Iraqi security forces.
Hassan Mahmoud al-Soufi, a commander of pro-government Popular Mobilization Units, said on August 6 that Daesh militants had executed 61 people, among them a woman, by firing squad at a militant base on the outskirts of Hawijah.
Soufi said those killed were among the 3,000 civilians whom Daesh Takfiris had ambushed and captured days before as the former tried to flee from the militant-held city.
The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive in June 2014. The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.
The Iraqi army and fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units have been engaged in joint operations to retake militant-held regions.