Report: Islamic State Chooses to ‘Surrender En Masse’ to Iraqi Kurds over Martyrdom

An excess of one thousand Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists have reportedly surrendered to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Peshmerga troops despite the martyrdom they pledged was their only acceptable end, according to a report.

The ISIS jihadists voluntarily became prisoners after “they fled their crumbling Iraqi stronghold of Hawija,” located in the disputed province of Kirkuk, reports the New York Times (NYT), adding:

For an extremist group that has made its reputation on its ferociousness, with fighters who would always choose suicide over surrender, the fall of Hawija has been a notable turning point. The group has suffered a string of humiliating defeats in Iraq and Syria, but the number of its shock troops who turned themselves in at the [Kurdish] center in Dibis was unusually large, more than 1,000 since last Sunday, according to Kurdish intelligence officials.

Citing one of the prisoners, NYT reveals that the ISIS governor of Hawija ordered the jihadists to surrender to the Peshmerga and to flee the advancing U.S.-backed Iraqi troops which ultimately liberated the town with the help of its Iran-allied Shiite militia allies.

Despite their fight or die pledge, ISIS terrorists have surrendered or ran away from battle in the past at the request of their leaders.

Amid the U.S.-backed campaign that pushed ISIS out of Mosul, the jihadi chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly ordered his followers in battle to “flee and hide” or “ blow themselves up when surrounded by Iraqi forces.”

“Kurdish officials have been perplexed by the number of fighters who have surrendered. Many of the militants said they were ordered by their leaders to turn themselves in to the Kurds, who were known to take prisoners instead of killing them,” acknowledges the Times.

Kurdish news outlet Rudaw notes that some ISIS jihadists in Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk have even attempted to pose as fleeing civilians, carrying white flags as they approach Peshmerga troops.

Kamal Kirkuk, a Peshmerga commander, told Rudaw that Kurdish troops have already killed at least two of the alleged posers when they got closer and opened fire.

Last week, U.S.-backed Iraqi troops, in coordination with Baghdad-sanctioned Shiite militiamen, liberated the town Hawija, considered the “last” ISIS stronghold in northern Iraq.

Both Baghdad and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) claim ownership of Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk.

The Hawija victory, which marks the latest sign that the so-called ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria is dwindling, came despite the tensions between Baghdad and Erbil over the independence referendum passed by Iraqi Kurdistan last month.

Both Baghdad and the United States came out against the KRG’s independence vote, saying it would distract from the international fight against ISIS.

The Peshmerga mostly stayed out of the Hawija offensive, but the capture of the town has brought Iraqi forces into direct contact with their Kurdish counterparts.