Iraqi Kurds raid Daesh-held prison in Kirkuk, free inmates

Iraq’s Kurdish fighters have attacked a prison run by the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri terrorists in the northern province of Kirkuk, freeing as many as 70 prisoners.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced the news in a statement released on Kurdish media on Sunday.

The facility is located about seven kilometers (four miles) north of the town of Hawija, which is to the west of the provincial capital, Kirkuk.

The statement said the KRSC Counter Terror Department (CTD) forces made an airdrop into the main prison, adding that the operation lasted two hours.

The KRSC had “information that the prisoners were going to be executed on the same day the operation took place,” the statement said, adding, “According to the rescued prisoners, they had been told it was the last day of their life.”

Clashes also erupted between the Kurdish fighters and Daesh, with reports of casualties on both sides.

The statement added that none of the freed prisoners were Kurds, but over 20 of them were former members of the Iraqi security forces who were about to be executed by the terrorists.

The KRSC also stated that the operation was the “single most significant… rescue operation based out of Kurdistan region conducted deep into the ISIL territory.”

Daesh has been committing heinous crimes in Kirkuk and other areas under its control.

According to a local source in Kirkuk, the terrorists recently executed at least 18 people in Hawija on charges of spying and cooperation with the central government in Baghdad.

Daesh terrorists hanged the bodies of a number of the victims from electricity poles and dragged others alive on the streets until they died.

On October 18, Iraqi forces managed to regain control of the Rashad area of Hawija.

The Iraqi forces also made advances against the terror group around the Fatha area, west of Kirkuk, and near Allas oil field in the south.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by Takfiri violence since the summer of 2014.