ERBIL — The Iraqi authorities released a videotape on Friday showing an Islamic State (IS) operative’s confessing to his involvement in caging and parading a number of Peshmerga operatives earlier in 2015.

Jamal al-Mashadani, who was known by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Kurdi appears in the videotape introducing himself as a former officer of the Iraqi army during the Baath Regime. He joined al-Qaeda later before pledging alliance with the Islamic State in 2013.

In the 17-minute confession video released by the Iraqi intelligence, he explained that he had technical and organizational skills that the group needed to expand its reach, as reported by New York Times.

He had previously been captured by the Americans in 2006 and imprisoned at Camp Cropper, one of the two major detention centers run by the United States. He was released in mid-2011, he said in the video, and joined the Islamic State two years later.

In his confessions, he said that he supervised an IS operation that led to the capture of 18 Peshmerga troops whom were later put in cages and paraded in the streets of Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk. However, official statements say that 21 Peshmerga fighters were captured during that operation.

Al-Mashadani was also involved in the bombardment of Taza district of Kirkuk province where several dozens of civilians were killed and injured with chemical weapons.

Later in 2017, the IS operative decided to leave Syria and the Islamic State. He was later captured by the Iraqi intelligence service at his son’s home in Baghdad.

Bas News