DUBAI/BAGHDAD, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – The Islamic State (IS) has seized three trucks with school textbooks for Iraqi schools at the country's border with Jordan and is demanding $108,000 for their passage, a source close to the country's Education Ministry told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
“At the Trebel checkpoint at the entrance to Iraq from Jordan three heavy trucks with new textbooks were seized. Terrorists demand $36,000 for each truck. Now providing pupils with textbooks is questionable,” the source said, adding, “It will hit particularly hard the primary school, as children are waiting for the opportunity to go to school and temporarily forget about everyday difficulties.”
The beginning of the academic year in Iraq was postponed until October 22 due to the fighting against the IS and the increasing number of refugees. Nevertheless, the situation in many Iraqi regions is deteriorating, and authorities may postpone opening of schools even further. Only several safe regions in southern Iraq opened their schools last week.
The IS has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories it had seized.
