BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights reported May 3 that more than a thousand civilians were forcibly disappeared in the battle to regain control over Mosul that began Oct. 17, and in the Anbar operations that were launched July 13, 2015. This is in line with statements made by Yehya al-Mohammadi, a member of the Anbar provincial council, who said in a press statement April 25, “The fate of hundreds of the kidnapped people in the Razaza area, south of the governorate, is still unknown.”

In the same context, the governor of al-Hadar district in Mosul, Ali al-Ahmadi, said in a press statement May 2 that “160 young men were kidnapped while migrating from the district.”

Aside from these statements, there were no official statistics — and the information about the number of the abductees is conflicting, which provoked controversy.

Members of parliament in the Sunni-dominated Salahuddin governorate told the media May 1 that “there are 4,000 abductees from the governorate” and threatened to internationalize the case. Meanwhile, member of parliament for the Anbar governorate Hamed al-Mutlaq said May 2 in a press statement, “The number of the kidnapped in the Sunni areas — including Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala and Salahuddin — amounts to more than 5,000 abductees.”