MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Islamic State (IS) militants receive some $5 million daily from oil sales, Iraqi Communist Party Secretary General Hamid Majid Musa told International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya on Thursday.
"The Islamic State is likely receiving some $5 million a day from oil sales alone," Musa said, "because they have gained control over oil fields that cumulatively could give exactly that revenue."
Musa went on to say that this sum was possible even though IS militants sold oil illegally at extremely low prices, and illegal oil trade in Iraq is a big market, being the domain of mafia organizations.
"There are many ways for oil contraband to leave Iraq. And the oil goes illegally to countries that claim to be fighting against the Islamic State," the secretary general said, naming Turkey as one of those countries.
Musa placed the blame for IS gaining power on external help, especially from countries in the Persian Gulf. The extremist organization has even managed to collect taxes in the territories under its control, collecting some $15 million monthly in Mosul alone.
The Islamic State is an extremist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. It launched attacks in northern Iraq in June 2014, also announcing the establishment of a caliphate on the captured territories.
The US-led coalition against the IS has been carrying out airstrikes on the militants' positions in Iraq and Syria, trying to hamper the IS advance.
