The Daesh group has taken captive four journalism students in northern Iraq for leaking information about the militants to Iraqi and media organizations.
According to the Iraqi organization Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), the students of the Mosul University were taken captive in the militant-held city of Mosul on Friday for disclosing information from the militants’ stronghold.
Activists and a former security official confirmed JFO’s account and said the people were taken to an unknown location.
The extremist group executed a journalist last month. The reporter, identified as Jala al-Abadi, was held for similar accusations in June.
The father of two, Abadi, who had worked both as a journalist and a cameraman for over 10 years, was held in captivity for 41 days after being kidnapped from his home on June 4.
The JFO says at least eight journalists from the province of Nineveh, of which Mosul is the capital, are currently held by Daesh.
Daesh, which has had Mosul under its control since June 10, 2014, issued guidelines to journalists in October that year, saying that they must declare allegiance to the group in order to obtain approval for their reports. Daesh started its campaign of terror in Iraq in the same month.
The heavily armed militants took control of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s heartland.
The militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.
Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, and Shia and Sunni volunteers are engaged in battle with the militants to drive them out of the areas they have under control.
This article has been modified from the source material.
