Kurdish and Hashd al-Shaabi officials hold meeting in Khurmatu

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An official at the Khurmatu mayor’s office told Rudaw Monday that several high military officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Hashd al-Shaabi Shiite militias met in Khurmatu to discuss escalating violence between the two factions and proposals for de-escalation.
 
Mohamed Jala of the Khurmatu mayor’s office told Rudaw that to avoid further escalation of violence and seek calm in the situation, many PUK high military officials, led by PUK senior member Adnan Hama Mina, met with leaders of the Hashd al-Shaabi to hold talks on the current tensions in Khurmatu.
 
“The situation is getting better. Since Sunday at 11 pm, no gunfire has been heard,” Jala told Rudaw.
 
He added that Kurds seeking vengeance on Shiites civilians in the disputed territory should be stopped, and that retaliation would make things worse. “There are some people who aim to worsen the situation and go to Kurdish districts and homes to create sedition and to burn the Shiites,” Jala said.
 
The ethnically and religiously mixed Khurmatu currently has a Kurdish mayor, and is located in the disputed Diyala province 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kirkuk.
 
Fighting in Khurmatu broke out on Friday when a Shiite militia convoy allegedly refused to stop at a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces, resulting in a firefight that left three Peshmerga and two Shiite militiamen dead.