MESOP : YOUNG KURDS IN IRAN JOIN IS

Islamic State boasts rising number of recruits among Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan              

December 11, 2014 – Rudaw – Iranian Kurdistan,— The Islamic State (IS) recruitment campaign has reached Iranian Kurdistan too, says a local activist, and more than a hundred young Kurds have joined the group in the past few months.

Mokhtar Hoshmand, a Kurdish activist in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) told Rudaw that most of the young Kurds who joined IS are from the cities of Kermanshah, Jiwanro and Bawajan. Hoshmand believes that the number of recruits increased following the start of coalition airstrikes against the radical group in Iraq and Syria. IS members have boasted on Facebook pages that the member of Iranian Kurdish volunteers has dramatically increased. One IS Facebook post recently said that in October alone 23 Kurds from Iran had joined the group. “And nine of them immediately signed up for suicide missions,” read the post. “According to my information, so far 20 Iranian Kurdish members of IS have been killed and 30 have been injured,” said Hoshmand, who has been researching Salafism and extremist groups for years. Photos of a wounded Iranian Kurdish member of IS and a suicide bomber were also posted on Facebook pages recently.

A source in Mahabad told Rudaw on condition of anonymity that two of the latest recruits were Sherko and Farhad, both 24 years old. He said that a 40-year-old cleric named Qasim had carried out the recruitment. The cleric himself has since joined IS. Hoshmand said most of the Kurdish members of IS are based in Raqqah, the IS capital in Syria, and some in Iraq. He said that these Kurds were previously members of the Al-Qaeda. “The al-Qaeda is not as strong and appealing as it used to be,” said Hoshmand. It is said that Iranian security forces have detained 20 individuals on their way to join IS. According to Hoshmand, a dozen of these Kurds have broken off with IS and joined its rival the Al-Nusrah Front in Syria.

By Fuad Haqiqi – Rudaw.