The Islamic State (IS) militants have arrested 20 drivers in Mosul, a city in north of Iraq, suspected of giving information to Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the area.
Saed Mamuzini, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official from Mosul, told BasNews that US-led coalition airstrikes have heavily shelled many important IS bases inside Mosul, leading IS insurgents to suspect some people in their area of leaking information to the Peshmerga forces.
He claimed that on Wednesday, IS insurgents set up a temporary checkpoint on Mosul’s Hurriya Bridge to question drivers and inspect people’s cell phones which led to the arrest of 20 drivers, among them some Kurdish drivers, who are taxi drivers between Mosul and Iraqi Kurdish Capital Erbil.
Mamuzini noted that some of the drivers’ cell phones contained text messages and Peshmerga phone numbers, resulting in the arrests.
IS militants have controlled Mosul and other Sunni populated areas in the northern Iraq since June 2014, but Peshmerga forces in conjunction with coalition airstrikes have been able to advance on and free many areas from IS control.
Islamic radical groups bases are targeted almost daily by US jets, with IS also finding themselves pushed back by Peshmerga on the front lines.
