On Friday, the Kuwait News Agency cited a source in the Iraqi Ministry of Communications who said the agency was told to block access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube websites.

The source did not specify why the sites were blocked, but it is believed to be a move to thwart ISIL terrorists from posting videos and pictures of adventures in the nation’s northern and western regions.

Hayder Hamzoz, founder of the Iraqi Network for Social Media, spread word of the block, and Ammar Al Shahbander, the Iraq director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, offered a screenshot of error messages received by users in Iraq.

Cyber Arabs, an internet freedom monitor and cyber-security training provider in the Middle East and North Africa, confirmed that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter were hampered across Iraq.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the extremist terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to other Iraqi cities, including the capital.

Baghdad does not appear to be in imminent danger from a similar assault, although foreign backed terrorists have stepped up car bombings and suicide attacks in the capital in recent months.

The Iraqi army regained full control of the central cities of Tikrit and Samara, a day after the radical insurgents seized it.

NTJ/MB