Shwan Salah Mohammad, () also known as Mullah Shwan Kurdi (مەلا شوان کوردی) (1986 – July 28, 2015) was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

senior member of the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

, who was among the first to join the group during its early stages.

Life

Mullah Shwan's parents are from a small village called Zebarok, near

Shaqlawa Shaqlawa ( ku, شەقڵاوە, Şeqlawe, ar, شقلاوة, ) is a historic city and a hill station in the Erbil Governorate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Shaqlawa, a city of approximately 25,500 people, lies 51 km to the northeast of Er ...

. They later moved to

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. Hu ...

, where Mullah Shwan was born in 1986 in Erbil. He did not live in the village and lived his entire life in the city. He studied until the 9th grade before dropping out. He married in 2006. He has two sisters and two brothers. Mullah Shwan's grandfather was a Peshmerga of the First Iraqi–Kurdish War. His uncle also fought in it and died. Two of his other uncles were wounded in the fight against ISIS. One of his brothers is a Peshmerga. Mullah Shwan was a preacher at Mam Jaafar Mosque in Daratu

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, near Erbil.

Joining ISIS

In November 2014, he travelled to

Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, ...

with his family and daughters, Hana and Hala, along with two other friends, to join ISIS. Mullah Shwan appeared in many ISIS

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

videos. He was basically the Kurdish

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for ISIS. On July 28, 2015, the KRG Security Council announced that in a secret operation with American forces, they were able to locate Mullah Shwan after spying on his house in

Hawija Hawija () is the central town of Al-Hawija District in the Kirkuk Province of Iraq, west of Kirkuk, and north of Baghdad. The town has a population of about 100,000 inhabitants. Hawija District has approximately 150,000 inhabitants, mostly pop ...

for several days. They killed him by bombing a vehicle full of ISIS fighters which he was also riding in. After the killing of Mullah Shwan, the fate of his family remains unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdi, Mullah Shwan 1986 births 2015 deaths Deaths by United States drone strikes in Iraq Kurdish Islamists Fugitives wanted by Iraq Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Salafi jihadists 21st-century Kurdish people Deaths by airstrike during the War in Iraq (2013–2017)