This kind of behaviour is starting to get stronger reactions from local people. Currently the IS group control the centre of the Hawija district as well as five other Kirkuk neighbourhoods.
On June 31, IS fighters killed a woman in the Zab neighbourhood in Hawija because they said she had insulted the IS group. The woman was a housewife and had a son who used to serve in the Sunni Muslim militia known as the Awakening or Sahwa forces, that fought against Al Qaeda; her husband died in 2007.
“This kind of behaviour is creating resentment toward the IS group,” al-Assi explains. “even those who welcomed them at first are no longer happy with them. And there have been some incidents in Kirkuk that indicate how annoyed people are with the IS group.”
For example, on Sept. 4, one of the IS group's distinctive black flags was set alight by an unknown person in an abandoned lot near Tal Ali village in western Kirkuk. After this a large number of IS fighters stormed the village and kidnapped 50 of the local men. Thankfully after two days, all of the men were released again.
And on Sept. 12, three tribal leaders from a clan that was part of the Abid tribe were killed by the IS group; they also kidnapped 20 people from within the Rashad district. The locals were kidnapped because the IS fighters said they were conspiring to form a militia to expel the IS group from their areas.
“Even individuals who were cooperating with the IS group when things began in June have started turning against them now,” Ahmed Askari, an Iraqi Kurdish member of Kirkuk's provincial council and head of the security committee there, told NIQASH. “They have started contacting security forces in Kirkuk to inform on them and tell them where the IS group are located.”
Many locals are also fleeing the hell that is IS,” Askari added.
A source inside Kirkuk's military says that they also have information from locals who feel they were manipulated by the IS group but who have now realized that IS fighters are committing violent acts and behaving badly. Many of these locals have also fled their homes.
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