"In the late hours of yesterday, elements of the ISIS [IS] group abducted 30 civilians from the area of al-Rashidiyah, located in central Mosul," a local source in Nineveh province told Iraqi News Tuesday, adding that the kidnapping took place amid several raids the IS was carrying out in the area.
According to the source, IS extremists "accused the kidnapped individuals of cooperation with the Peshmerga forces and drove them to an unknown destination".
Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, has been under IS control since last summer. The radical Sunni group, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has also captured vast territories in the neighboring Syria, where it began fighting the government in 2012. IS has declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate over the territories under its control in both countries.
A US-led international coalition formed in September of last year has been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile the Kurdish militia, known as the Peshmerga, fights IS militants on the ground on a daily basis.
Earlier this week, the Peshmerga announced that it had completely freed the Syrian city of Kobani from IS extremists.
