Iraqi forces in conjunction with American troops have been mounting a widespread raiding campaign in outlying areas of Kirkuk Province targeting wanted suspects believed to be leaders in armed groups that operate in the area.

A source in the Iraqi Army Twelfth Division, stationed in Kirkuk Province, told Slogger that raiding operations began Thursday in several predominantly ethnic Arab areas of Kirkuk Province, including Hawija, al-Dibis, al-Rishad, and al-Abasi areas, targeting leaders of various armed groups. Targeted groups include the Naqshabandiya Order, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, the Iraqi Islamic Army and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq. Sources said that at least 20 suspected leaders in the various organizations have been detained and transferred to the 12th Division headquarters for interrogation.

The source told Slogger that the arrest campaign will continue indefinitely, in what the source said would be one of the largest operations in preparation for the withdrawal of American forces.

The commander of the 12th Division Maj. Gen. Abd al-Amir al-Zaidi, survived an IED attack in the al-Riyad district of Kirkuk province on Friday. Three of the commander’s guards were injured in the roadside blast. The attack was the fourth assassination attempt on al-Zaidi in the last year, local sources said, explaining that the commander had made many enemies in the province since assuming command. As in the operations reported above, Iraqi 12th Division forces have targeted the predominantly Sunni Arab militant groups that operate in some areas of Kirkuk Province, in addition to drawing the ire of the Kurdish militia and intelligence organizations that operate in the province.

Iraqi forces in the Hawija sector of Kirkuk Province uncovered the corpses of four abduction victims in a small village in the area, security sources told Slogger.

The bodies, recovered on Sunday in the village of al-Thibat, are apparently are those of four farmers who had been abducted two days before.

The captors reportedly demanded a ransom of approximately $150,000 each, but the men were apparently executed when the families did not pay.

The four bodies were transferred to forensic authorities in Kirkuk city.

The same day, US forces conducted an airborne raid on the al-Jawala village, about 26 miles south of Kirkuk city, eyewitnesses told IraqSlogger. The forces reportedly arrested five wanted men, who were transferred to the al-Huriya airbase in Kirkuk city.

The village is located inside the al-Rishad sector of Kirkuk province, which locals say remains a stronghold of militant activity owing to its harsh terrain, including cavernous mountains and communications across arid lands to the nearby restive Diyala Province.

Two would-be attackers were reportedly killed on Monday in a botched IED attack in central Hawija, local sources said. A third man was wounded when the IED that the three men were attempting to plant exploded prematurely. The two corpses and injured man were transferred to the nearby Azady Hospital. The survivor will be interrogated, Iraqi security sources say.

Kurdish intelligence forces operating in Kirkuk Province released 45 detainees on Sunday, local sources say. The Asayish, as the intel agency that operates under the command of Iraq’s two major Kurdish parties is known, released the 45 after finding that there was no evidence to link them to alleged criminal activity in the province.

As IraqSlogger has reported earlier, Arab and Turkmen citizens of Kirkuk have alleged that Kurdish intelligence and militia organizations in the province have targeted their communities for arrests, with many detainees allegedly removed to nearby provinces under Kurdish control, where conditions are said to be poor and detainees are said to be tortured.

Residents say that the Asayish forces conduct arrest sweeps in areas of Kirkuk after bombing attacks in the city, often sweeping up innocent people in the operations.

Fact-finding committee

A parliamentary fact-finding committee tasked with finding a solution to the political impasse in the disputed oil-rich province met with the provincial council of Kirkuk on Sunday, local sources said. The committee reportedly discussed the ethnic distribution of public-sector jobs in the province, affirming the quota of 32% of jobs to each of the Kurdish, Turkmen, and Arab communities, with the remaining four percent distributed to Christians.

The following day, Kirkuk Governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa met with members of the parliamentary committee, who reportedly told the governor that their committee faced obstacles in the various ministries, who allegedly fail to present documents and information when requested.

The parliamentary committee's report is due in June.

Iraqi Army forces are withdrawing from two villages in the al-Dubiz area of Kirkuk Province after villagers protested the presence of the forces on their land.

A representative of the Iraqi 12th Division has told the mayor (Qa’im maqam) of the al-Dubiz sector that the forces have decided to withdraw from the area, the official told al-Malaf Press.

The 47th Brigade of the Iraqi Army issued orders yesterday to return the territory from the two villages where its soldiers were stationed, the agency reports in Arabic.

The Army warned locals to be aware of its troop movements as its forces withdraw.

Residents of the two villages had staged protests days before in protest of the Army’s presence in their areas.