ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Amid a rampage of bloodshed that has ripped through Iraq and killed at least 200 people since the start of Ramadan, Sunnis in the religiously mixed and volatile Diyala province are asking the autonomous Kurds to send in their Peshmarga forces for protection.
A mosque attack during Friday prayers in the town of Wajihiya in Diyala, which killed 20 people and revived fears of a return to the fierce Shiite-Sunni violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion, has Sunni leaders turning to the Kurds, and Shiites opposing the call.
The demand for the deployment of the Peshmergas began with Salim al-Jibouri, a Diyala MP in the Iraqi parliament, who recently said the fighters were needed to counter armed groups and rising instability.
Diyala is home to several major Kurdish towns and villages, and at times the Kurdistan Regional Government has sent in its Peshmarga forces to protect Kurds fleeing in large numbers to parts of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Ahmad Saeed, the head of the Sunni endowment office in Baquba who blames the country’s Shiite leaders in Baghdad for the deteriorating security situation, agrees that only the predominantly Sunni Kurds can impose security.
Saeed, a prominent Friday preacher, has called for the formation of a new special force to work alongside the Peshmergas for security.
But Qasim Mamouri, spokesperson for the Shiite-dominated Diyala National Coalition, says that despite people’s legitimate concerns for safety, the deployment of any outside force is unacceptable.
“We do want the protection of this province’s population, but not just one particular group,” he told Rudaw. “But we vehemently oppose the formation of any ethnic-based force for the purpose of protection.”
Mamouri added that the cause of the problems in Diyala is political, and has to do with how the provincial administration is structured.
“Therefore, we welcome a suggestion by the (Shiite) Sadr Movement to dissolve the current administration, change the governor and form a new administration that would embrace all groups,” he said.
This political dispute, said Mamouri, is what has got some armed groups excited.
Sunni religious leaders across the province spoke out in Friday sermons last week about the persecution of Sunni residents by Shiite militias. They called for the establishment of a Sunni protection force.
Saeed said that the Sunnis can no longer trust the Iraqi army or security forces, following raids to capture suspected Sunni insurgents.
“The Sunnis have full trust in the Peshmerga forces because they have proven their neutrality in the past,” he said.
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