KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region—The leader of the Shiite Bader Brigade said Sunday that his forces were in full control of Diyala and were preparing to drive the Islamic State (ISIS) out of the next two Sunni provinces.
“Today we announce the liberation of Diyala,” said Hadi al-Amri, head of the Badr Brigade in a press conference. “Our next appointment will be in Tikrit and in the same way we will liberate Kirkuk.”
Amri said that his forces were now clearing towns and villages from explosives that ISIS has left behind to facilitate the return of their residents.
Amri urged his fighters not to touch people’s homes and properties, adding, “Ayatollah Sistani has sent a message asking us to protect people’s homes and belongings because this is a moral and religious responsibility,”
Local residents in the towns of Jalawla and Saadiya—liberated in November—have complained that Shiite militiamen had plundered their homes and shops after the fighting was over.
The Badr Brigade is Iraq’s largest and most powerful Shiite militia that has operated outside government control since Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003 and involved in Iraq’s bloody sectarian war in 2005-2008.
Amri’s statement about preparing to liberate Kirkuk will most likely be met by Kurdish opposition who have their Peshmerga troops in the province with a defense belt that stretches hundreds of kilometers.
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