Shafaq News – Kirkuk

A man kidnapped last month in northern Kirkuk’s Altun Kupri district was released on Wednesday, a security source told Shafaq News, while another man who was abducted with him had earlier escaped from the captors.

The source said the release took place before dawn under unclear circumstances, with security forces tightening patrols in the area and opening an investigation to determine who was behind the abduction.

The two men were seized in September when armed assailants ambushed them on the rural road linking the villages of Bibani and Zardak. One of the victims managed to flee despite sustaining injuries.

Altun Kupri and its surrounding areas, which stretch toward the administrative borders of Erbil and Nineveh, are known for sporadic militant and criminal activity. Armed groups and kidnapping gangs often exploit the region’s mountainous terrain and unsecured farm roads to carry out attacks.

Local sources had reported at the time that the victims, both Kurdish farmers, were assaulted by gunmen in military fatigues while working their land.