BAGHDAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi federal police Saturday confirmed that the policemen who were kidnapped days ago in north of Baghdad had been killed by their abductors.
Lt. Gen. Raid Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police forces, said in a statement "the cowardly terrorist enemy killed the captives, who were kidnapped while unarmed."
The terrorist Islamic State (IS) militants were defeated by the federal police forces in Mosul, Tall Afar, Shorqat and Hawijah, Jawdat said, adding that the extremists have cowardly resorted to attacks on civilians and unarmed security members after failure on the frontlines.
On March 20, Major Ali al-Obeidi from Kirkuk police told Xinhua that IS militants kidnapped 10 federal policemen who were on vacation in north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
The incident occurred when the extremist militants set up a fake checkpoint on the main road near the mountainous Himreen area and kidnapped the policemen who were in two civilian cars heading to their homes in Baghdad for vacation, Obeidi said.
During the past few months, dozens of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin province and Hawijah area in the west of Kirkuk after the Iraqi forces cleared these areas during major anti-IS offensives.
However, remnants of IS militants resorted to hideouts in rugged areas near the rivers of Tigris and Zab, as well as Himreen mountainous areas to continue their almost daily attacks against civilians and Iraqi forces.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.
However, small groups and individuals of IS militants regrouped in the rugged areas and are carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
