ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— At least 23 people were killed and over a hundred injured as Iraqi security forces stormed a Sunni-led sit-in in the town of Hawija, west of Kirkuk on Tuesday.
The Iraqi government said it will establish a fact-finding commission chaired by Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlag to investigate the causes of the escalation.
Sunni politicians told the media that the protests were peaceful and they have blamed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the use of force.
“We condemn in the strongest words of condemnation and denunciation the unfortunate crime committed by the army against the demonstrators in Hawija,” said Iraqi Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Najafi in a statement.
In the past several months, residents of Iraq’s Sunni provinces have protested against neglect by the central government and they demand better public services and release of Sunni prisoners.
In retaliation to Tuesday’s incident, Sunni militants attacked and burnt two Iraqi army checkpoints near Mosul.
Iraqi troops backed by helicopter gunships later retook the checkpoints.
In a press conference in Erbil, Ahmed al-Dabash, a senior member of the Islamic Army in Iraq told the media that they will respond in kind to the deadly attack in Hawija.
“From now on, we will want the people of the area to stand up against attacks by the Iraqi army,” al-Dabash said.
Families have not been able to retrieve the bodies of the dead, al-Dabash added, and that a number of injured protesters have been detained by the army and taken away for interrogation.
Meanwhile, UN special envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler has called for restraint in Hawija.
“I encourage the Iraqi security forces to exercise the utmost self-restraint in maintaining law and order and the demonstrators to continue to preserve the peaceful character of the demonstrations,” he said on Tuesday.
Prominent Sunni clerics in Iraq have declared holy war and obliged their followers to “defend protesters by all means necessary,”
“The peaceful demonstrations are over due to what happened today,” Saddoun al-Obaidi, a tribal leader in Hawija who was a leader of the protest movement told the New York Times. “Now we are going to carry weapons. We have all the weapons we need, and we are getting support from other provinces. This will not pass easily. Something bad will happen soon.”
Kurdistan President’s Chief of Staff Fuad Hussein said that President Massoud Barzani has urged all hospital and government institutions in the autonomous Region to “help the victims of Tuesday’s bloody incidents,”
The Iraqi government brands the Sunni protesters as terrorist groups trying to destabilize the country.
Fearing further escalation, the Iraqi army has deployed large numbers of troops in the Sunni areas.
The position of Kurdistan’s armed forces known as Peshmerga on the deadly clashes, is that of neutrality, said Jabar Yawar, chief of staff of the ministry of Peshmerga.
“Peshmerga forces were not involved in what happened between the Iraqi army and Sunni protesters in that area,” he said. “We also reject the news that Peshmerga forces have been put on alert.”
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment