Unidentified shooter fires at protesters in disputed Kirkuk neighborhood

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An unidentified assailant on Sunday evening opened fire near a tent set up by Kurdish residents of a Kirkuk neighborhood who have been protesting an Iraqi army attempt to seize their homes. No injuries were reported.

Forces of the Iraqi army have been stationed in Kirkuk city’s Newroz neighborhood since Tuesday. They have demanded families residing there to evacuate their homes on the grounds that the neighborhood is property of the defense ministry.

The residents have staged sit-in protests as Kurdish officials continue their discussions with Baghdad to stop the takeover.

Security footage obtained by Rudaw shows a group of the protesters sitting outside the tent, guarded by a police vehicle and armed officers. They are seen running away in a panic after the assailant fired in their direction.

“At around 9:32 pm, several bullets were fired towards the tent, even though there are security forces present and three police cars have been assigned to protect the security of the tent,” Hemin, one of the protesters, told Rudaw’s Hiwa Hussamadin.

Eyewitnesses confirmed to Rudaw that no one was injured, but complained that security forces failed to prevent the incident. The shooter was “no more than 50 meters away from the police cars,” said one eyewitness.

Kurdish officials in Baghdad have previously claimed that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani directed the army forces to withdraw from Newroz, but soldiers and Humvees are still present in the neighborhood. A large number of police cars and police officers have also been stationed in the area in recent days.

A total of 172 families, mostly Kurds, reside in the Newroz’s 122 houses. The Iraqi army has seized at least six houses of residents who were not home when the operation began and continue to occupy them to this day.

“That is my house, where my wife and children used to live,” said Dana, a resident of Newroz, pointing at his home which has been seized by Iraqi troops. “Three to four Iraqi soldiers are currently in the house, as well as two police cars to protect the situation from escalating.”

Dana was detained by Iraqi forces after asking them to leave his home and was only released after pledging not to return to the house again.

The houses in the neighborhood were previously inhabited by members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party. After the fall of the regime, Kurdish families from Kirkuk who were displaced to other parts of the country, returned to the neighborhood and took up residence in those houses.

Paul Bremer, the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority which oversaw Iraq after 2003, issued a decree to register these houses as properties of the finance ministry.

A decree issued by the former Kirkuk provincial council granted the families the right to remain in the houses until the federal government provided them with compensation.