BAGHDAD

Daesh terrorist group has executed 40 prisoners in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province, an Iraqi police officer said Tuesday.

“They were executed on charges of fleeing the battlefield during the fight against security forces,” police captain Hamed al-Obeidi told Anadolu Agency.

The Iraqi officer said Daesh, fearing revolts, was trying to empty prisons in Hawija district in western Kirkuk province.

Daesh still controls a large area in southwestern Kirkuk from which it launches attacks against security forces in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces.

Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition warplanes, are currently engaged in a massive offensive to oust the terrorist group from Mosul, Iraq’s once second largest city in terms of population.

Reporting by Hussein al-Amir;Writing by Mahmoud Barakat