Erbil, Kurdistan region: The four men helped each other clamber up the far side of a trench into the no-man's land between frontlines in northern Iraq, fearing what lay ahead but unable to turn back.
Moving forward under a pounding sun, they carefully navigated around landmines until reaching the border of Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate hours later, according to an account of the journey related by one of the men, Abu Muhannad.
They are among dozens, some Arabs in the area say hundreds, who have been banished from areas under Kurdish control in recent months as suspected Islamic State sympathisers, a measure some Arabs say is creating dangerous ethnic polarisation in areas recaptured from the insurgents.
"They (the Kurds) drove us to the frontline and said go to Daesh," Abu Muhannad said by telephone, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. "We got out of the car, they gave us each a bottle of water, and we went."
Abu Muhannad denies being a member or supporter of Islamic State. He says he was expelled from his village after being detained for three weeks, with no way to exonerate himself.
"It's not a question of guilt or innocence," he said. "They want to make it a Kurdish area for themselves."
While it is not clear how extensive such expulsions from Kurdish-held areas have been, Reuters spoke to four people who were deported separately from the Sinjar and Zummar areas, some of them in batches of more than a dozen. Relatives and friends of others who were expelled said the practice was widespread.
Two Kurdish security sources in the area confirmed expulsions had taken place but described the practice as limited.
One Kurdish intelligence source in the area said the expulsions were a "preventative" measure and said the reason suspected Islamic State sympathisers were not formally tried first was that no law existed under which to prosecute them.
Approximately 50 individuals had been thrown out, he said, all of whom would have received long prison sentences if there were a way to convict them: "Expulsion is more merciful".
A spokesman for the Kurdish region's Security Council refused to comment on an "allegation without any basis" that suspects had been summarily expelled, but added: "However, we have made it clear that we will not tolerate any activities of ISIS or ISIS affiliates or sympathizers in our areas."
&uuid=(email))