Kurdish militias said to be behind upsurge in violence in Iraq’s Kirkuk
There has been a surge in violence in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Deadly car bombings and kidnappings have made a comeback.
Kirkuk, the capital of a province of the same name, is a mixed city. It has sizeable minorities of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds and Syriac Christians.
But the Kurds and their militias are in full control of the city. Kurdish militia leaders among them the Kurdish region’s head Massoud Barzani have refused deployment of Iraqi troops in the city.
To make matters worse, Barzani dispatched more of his heavily armed militias to the city, fueling anger from Kirkuk’s other minorities.
The Arabs and Turkmen have once again asked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to deploy an Iraqi corps in Kirkuk.
In a meeting, in which representatives from different Arab political factions were present, Arab leaders in Kirkuk openly blamed Kurdish militias for the upsurge in violence.
Khalid al-Mufraji, who read a statement on behalf of the representatives, said Kurdish leaders were obstructing all possible solutions to end violence in the province.
He said the Kurds and their militias were in control and they were the ones to blame for the violence.
Mufraji said it was time the city’s security file was turned back to Iraqi troops and police forces.
He said Kurdish militias “are even incapable of guarding their own barracks in the city.”
The Turkmen Front, an umbrella grouping all Turkish ethnic groups and factions in Iraq, also issued a statement denouncing the presence of Kurdish militias in the city and blaming them for the latest breaches in security.
Last week’s car bombing in Kirkuk killed and injured more than 120 people and caused large-scale material damage.
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