Three Islamic State militants died when wild boars attacked them in southern Kirkuk, a local source was quoted saying.
The animals went on a rampage near a farmland in al-Rashad region, an Islamic State pocket 53 kilometers south of Kirkuk. They attacked the militants and left three killed, according to the source.
Alsumaria News quoted the source saying that “Daesh (Islamic State) militants took revenge at the pigs that attacked the farmland,” but did not clarify the method.
Since emerging in 2014 to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”, IS members have held areas in southwestern Kirkuk, where thousands of civilians had to flee the group’s rule to refugee camps in the province and neighboring cities. Local officials have repeatedly urged the government to hasten with security efforts to liberate IS-held regions in Kirkuk, but the Iraqi government is currently employing its full military power in the six-month-old campaign to retake Mosul, IS’s biggest stronghold in Iraq. It is expected that the government will launch further offensives against IS havens across Iraq once the campaign in Mosul concludes.
Islamic State militants have regularly executed civilians in Kirkuk over accusations of collaboration with security forces or attempting to flee the province to refugee camps.