SHINGAL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) says it is willing to withdraw its forces from Shingal area after recapturing the town from militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) who overran much of the area in August 2014 and triggered a dire humanitarian crisis. Haval Agid, PKK commander in the region, told Rudaw his 500-strong force will leave the area after driving out the militants. He said the Peshmerga ministry within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had been notified of the decision. The KRG said last week it deployed over 20,000 Peshmerga to Shingal for the final push to fully recapture the town. PKK has said it also wants to take part in the offensive. “We want to participate in the fight for Shingal. We are not a foreign force,” Agid told Rudaw, adding that the PKK presence in the area had strengthened the Kurdistan region. He said the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) had been informed that PKK forces are willing to leave the area if the KDP recognized the PKK-affiliated military group called the Shingal Protection Unit (YPS). With over 5,000 guerrillas based mostly in remote border areas in the Kurdistan region since the early 1990s, the PKK has been conducting military operations often without the explicit approval of central authorities in Iraq or the KRG. The KRG has asked the PKK to leave Shingal area and allow Peshmerga forces to free the predominantly Kurdish Yezidi town. The Peshmerga ministry has rejected PKK’s precondition and calls the YPS unlawful military group. “The Peshmerga force is large enough to defeat ISIS in the area, we have no use for PKK help,” Sarbast Lazgin, a Peshmerga commander told Rudaw. In an offensive last December, the Peshmerga were able to retake much of the area lost to the ISIS militants, including parts of the Shingal town. The operation was not concluded, however, because Kurdish troops were unable to move into Shingal due to the landmines and explosives planted by the militants, the ministry said. Shingal is located inside Kurdish-controlled territories but beyond the official borders of the KRG’s administration. The area has historically been under the political and military influence of the KDP, which is one of the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq with some 60,000 Peshmerga soldiers.
