Shafaq News / Eyewitnesses reported on Sunday that ISIS elements have set fire to crops of Kurdish farmers in "Qarachogh" mountain range within the administrative borders of the disputed Makhmur district between Erbil and Baghdad.

Fires erupted late last night in the agricultural areas in "Azikand" village inhabited by Kurds.

According to witnesses, this village is half a kilometer from the center of Makhmur district and is located in the slopes of " Qarachogh " heights, as firefighters rushed to put out fires in the crops in that village.

This is the third time that Qarachogh Heights have been exposed in a week to arsons that affected agricultural crops.

Makhmour district is 60 km away from Erbil city, and it includes the areas of (Dibkeh, Karaj, Kandinah and Al-Kuwair).

Makhmour district lies precisely between the four governorates in Iraq and the governorates are Erbil, Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahuddin Governorate.

Makhmour is considered one of the most fertile areas in terms of agriculture, especially seasonal agriculture, such as barley and wheat, and the majority of people work on agriculture and livestock.

The ethnic nature of Makhmour consists of the Kurdish and Arab nationalities, and the overwhelming majority of the population is Kurds, where they are 95% of the population.

The former regime cut off Makhmour district from Erbil governorate and followed it in Nineveh governorate after 1991 to make the district a disputed issue between Erbil and Baghdad.

In Makhmour district there is a “Makhmour camp for refugees", which houses thousands of Turkish Kurds, who fled clashes between the PKK and the Turkish government in 1990.

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi forces extended their control over the district after the events of October 16, 2017 in the military campaign launched by the federal government after the independence referendum conducted by Kurdistan Region.