An Iraqi grandmother is the leader of a 70-strong militia in the fight against Daesh in the Salahuddin province to avenge the killings of her family members.
Wahida Mohamed Al-Jumaily, better known as Um Hanadi, started fighting al-Qaida in 2004 and later made Daesh the target of her war against jihadis. Um Hanadi lost her first two husbands, father and three brothers to Daesh. According to her, this justifies any means to kill them.
"I fought them, I beheaded them, I cooked their heads, I burned their bodies," she told CNN.
Um Hanadi, 39, now believes she's at the top of Daesh's most wanted list. Her house has been targeted in bombings a number of times and she has also received several death threats from the group, including personal ones from leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"Six times they tried to assassinate me," she told CNN. "I have shrapnel in my head and legs, and my ribs were broken. But all that didn't stop me from fighting."
Um Hanadi and her militia operate in the recently liberated town of Shirqat, situation approximately 80 km south of the Daesh stronghold in Iraq, Mosul.
Iraqi ground forces in the area support the militia by providing them with weapons.
"She lost her brothers and husbands as martyrs," Gen. Jamaa Anad, commander of Iraqi ground forces in the Salahuddin province, told CNN. "So out of revenge she formed her own force."
