Kurdish farmer missing in Kirkuk, police suspect ISIS kidnapping

KIRKUK — A Kurdish farmer from the Altun Kupri district, north of Kirkuk, has been missing since Friday evening, with police suspecting he may have been kidnapped by ISIS militants.

The farmer, identified as Raber Hussein, left his home in Altun Kupri to tend to his farmland in the nearby village of Kitka but has not been heard from since. “There has been no sign of him, and his phone is turned off,” local police reported. His motorcycle was later found abandoned on his property.

A source at the Altun Kupri police station told 964media that the farmer’s family reported his disappearance. “With the help of local residents, a search operation was carried out, but only the farmer’s motorcycle was found,” the source said.

“For most of last night, police and local villagers searched the area for him,” the source added. “It’s as if the earth swallowed him up. There has been no trace, and his phone remains off.”

“We suspect that ISIS militants may have kidnapped the farmer, as they frequently operate in this area,” the police source explained. “They are known to abduct people.”

The village of Kitka is located along the road from Kirkuk to Altun Kupri, in an area of difficult terrain where ISIS militants are known to conduct operations and launch attacks.

Following its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIS has resumed kidnappings as a means of generating income through ransom, according to security experts and officials. A lack of coordination between Kurdish and Iraqi forces is often cited as a factor contributing to the increase in attacks, as the area lies along the separation line between the two forces.

On Aug. 29, 2022, suspected ISIS militants killed a Kurdish shepherd in the Rokhana Lake area of the Laylan district, southeast of Kirkuk. Additionally, on Jan. 15, 2023, two Kurdish shepherds were abducted by ISIS militants in the Tuz Khurmatu district of Salahaddin province. On March 12, 2023, ISIS released an image showing the execution of a shepherd from the village of Kharsardar in Tuz Khurmatu, 14 days after his abduction on Feb. 26, 2023.