Tuluban is a small village in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It may appear quiet, but ten years ago, it was at the frontlines of the world’s battle against ISIS.
The quiet community was transformed into a military base during ISIS’s bloody reign of terror.
When they were eventually forced out, ISIS left behind booby traps designed to kill families trying to return home.
Residents of Tuluban speak to i's global affairs correspondent Molly Blackall about their efforts to rebuild their lives.
The quiet community was transformed into a military base during ISIS’s bloody reign of terror.
When they were eventually forced out, ISIS left behind booby traps designed to kill families trying to return home.
Residents of Tuluban speak to i's global affairs correspondent Molly Blackall about their efforts to rebuild their lives.
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00:00 This small village in the Kurdistan region of Iraq may appear quiet, but ten years ago
00:08 it was at the front lines of the world's battle against ISIS.
00:13 At 3am in August 2014, the residents of Tulaban got a warning they had been dreading.
00:20 ISIS were just half an hour away.
00:24 The entire village sprung into action in the pitch black of the night and fled their homes,
00:30 taking only what they could carry.
00:32 Little did they know it would be three years before they could return.
00:36 Their quiet community was transformed into a military base of ISIS's bloody reign of
00:43 terror.
00:44 When they were eventually forced out, ISIS left behind dozens of booby traps designed
00:49 to kill families trying to return home.
00:52 This whole area around me was contaminated, including the school which is in the background
00:58 here, which was badly booby trapped.
01:00 And just up the hill there's a house here where two people were killed when they came
01:06 back to the village and found an unexploded device.
01:09 Ibrahim Mamad.
01:10 Ibrahim is the mayor of Tulaban and he tells me the shocking truth about the trapping of
01:16 the village.
01:21 They booby trapped many things while they were here, including cooking pots and irrigation
01:25 pipes that people use for agriculture.
01:31 They also booby trapped the area around the playground for children, which we had to remove.
01:44 I can see that people are still scared because of what happened and what we've been through.
01:49 For example, this area was wholly contaminated with IEDs and this house was full of IEDs.
01:58 I was moving around with the engineering unit and telling them to help us clear the area
02:02 as soon as possible.
02:04 That person in the engineering department eventually lost his life to the IEDs.
02:09 Six people were killed when they arrived back in the liberated village after stepping on
02:14 or picking up explosives that ISIS left behind.
02:18 One of the worst affected buildings was the school.
02:23 We were very shocked to see this because in the past, all the conflicts and the wars that
02:27 the country went through were on the borders with other countries.
02:31 But this time, because of the horrific actions of ISIS, this happened inside houses and villages
02:36 where people would leave.
02:37 So when we saw that, we were very shocked.
02:46 We knew that all around the school was booby-trapped with IEDs, especially the houses around the
02:51 school, which were heavily contaminated and booby-trapped.
02:55 Some people lost their lives because of them.
03:02 This area was liberated in 2017, but we only resumed education in 2020.
03:09 Sitting outside his house, we speak to Mouyad Moussa.
03:12 He was one of the only people to witness the ISIS takeover first-hand when he returned
03:17 to the village two days after the occupation in attempt to retrieve his possessions.
03:24 It was about 3am.
03:26 We were told on the phone to withdraw and leave because ISIS was approaching us.
03:35 They would shoot anyone that they saw in the village.
03:38 I came back to try and take my cows with me and then they shot at me.
03:45 After the village was liberated, Mouyad thought his family could rebuild their lives in safety,
03:51 but came home to find deadly traps set around his house.
03:59 This part of the wall was destroyed as they used it as a corridor for them to move between
04:02 the houses.
04:05 They placed an IED here with a gas can just like this one.
04:11 When people come back, the first thing they need is gas cans for cooking and other things.
04:21 They also put down five IEDs in one row here.
04:26 Today, the village of Tulaban has been cleared of explosives by the Mines Advisory Group
04:33 and the school is now once again bustling with children.
04:37 But for so many villages across Iraq and Syria, the deadly ISIS explosives are still claiming
04:43 innocent lives.
04:44 [Music]
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