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Islamic State propaganda video shows Kurdish soldiers encaged, paraded about

By Andrew V. Pestano

BAGHDAD, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A propaganda video recently released by the Islamic State appears to show Kurdish Peshmerga fighters caged and paraded about the streets of Iraq.

At least 21 men in orange jumpsuits were caged in the video.

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Some of the Kurdish soldiers were interviewed by a man holding a microphone displaying the Islamic State logo. Most of the captured soldiers said they are from the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, where Kurdish troops have been fighting the Islamic State since last summer.

One man in the video was identified as a brigadier general in the Peshmerga and another as an officer of the Iraqi army.

The video warned thousands of members of the Kurdish Peshmerga who are part of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State.

"We say to the Peshmerga: Leave your jobs, or your fate will be like these, either the cage, or under the ground," an unidentified man in the video said in Kurdish.

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It is unclear about what happened to the caged Kurdish soldiers in the video.

Recently, Kurdish troops in Syria, also known as the People's Protection Unit or YPG, took full control of the battleground city of Kobane away from the Islamic State.

Kurdish troops and some members of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State are planning to begin operations in April or May to take control of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, away from the Islamic State.

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