ISIS Kidnapped 100 Tribesmen Before Tikrit Offensive

ISIS fighters have abducted 100 Sunni Muslim tribesmen near the city of Tikrit, local tribal leaders said on Wednesday, apparently to neutralize suspected opponents before a widely expected army offensive.
Iraqi soldiers and pro-government Shiite militias have been massing for days in preparation for an attack on ISIS strongholds along the Tigris River to the north and south of Tikrit, hometown of executed former dictator Saddam.
Tikrit, about 150 km north of Baghdad, has been controlled by the ISIS Sunni Muslim radicals since they swept through northern Iraq in June, scattering Iraq's security forces."They broke into the houses and asked for mobiles," said Hatam al-Obeidi, a Rubaidha resident who escaped to the town of Tuz Khurmatu on Wednesday.
"They were checking everything in the mobiles that might show that the owner is against them," he said, adding that his own telephone had been returned to him after a gunman told him he was "clean".
Last week, insurgents detained 56 men accused of belonging to a government-backed Sunni militia, said Abu Kareem al-Obeidi, who left Rubaidha for the neighboring Diyala province to avoid abduction.