ERBIL — Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday night executed a farmer and kidnapped another civilian in separate raids in Kirkuk and Makhmour.

Security sources said the jihadists of IS carried out an attack on Zab village of Kirkuk and abducted a farmer who was found executed later.

In a separate attack near Ibrahim Bawli village of Makhmour, the IS militants kidnapped another civilian, a local official told BasNews.

The civilian, identified as Ramazan Mohammed Wali, is still missing with no information on his fate or whereabouts.

The areas of the terrorist attacks are known as Kurdish territories disputed between the regional government of Kurdistan and the federal government of Iraq.

Officially under the control of the Iraqi government, these areas struggle with increasing terrorist attacks often targeting civilians. The Kurdish population blame the Iraqi forces for failing to fill a security vacuum created in their region which has provided a safe haven for the IS militants to regroup and carry out attacks.

Last Friday, IS militants set up a fake checkpoint near Makhmour and kidnapped 11 civilians. Three others who escaped the ambush were injured by jihadists.

BasNews reported then that five of the abductees were released the same night, but six of them were still missing. According to officials and statements from the survived, the militants had disguised themselves in military uniforms.

Following months of negotiations, Erbil and Baghdad recently reached an agreement to establish four Joint Cooperation Centers between the Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Army in the disputed areas to address the security concerns and curb the terrorist activities.

They are also working to establish two joint brigades to operate in these areas.