'Daesh terrorists bribed Kurdish forces to flee Hawijah'

Iraqi army commanders say Kurdish Peshmerga forces have helped members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and their families escape the town of Hawijah prior to its liberation by the Iraqi military earlier this month.

Mahdi Taki, a commander with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, told the Middle East Eye (MEE) news portal on Monday that Daesh terrorists had bribed the Kurdish forces to secure their safe passage.

Daesh elements “have escaped Hawijah via Peshmerga positions and [before the Hawijah battle began] the Peshmerga received 160 Daesh leaders,” he said. 

“We are getting this information directly from our Peshmerga contacts. There are some bad Peshmerga who love money more than patriotism, and they are taking bribes from Daesh,” the Iraqi commander added.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the liberation of Hawijah on October 5 following a two-week military campaign that involved the army, police, special forces units and the Hashd al-Sha’abi. The Peshmerga did not participate in that operation.

Another Hashd al-Sha’abi commander, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the Daesh-Peshmerga ties, saying Takfiri terrorists have mainly fled to the Kurdish city of Erbil while their families have mostly been relocated in the city of Kirkuk.

Separately, Hawijah local councilor Nurhan Mizhir al-Assi said locals had information over the Daesh-Peshmerga cooperation in the illegal smuggling of Iraqi oil.

“It was Kurdish oil trucks that came here under Daesh and drove the oil to Turkey. Civilians who stayed here told us exactly what was happening,” he said.

EA