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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic State group (ISIS) fighters attacked a village in southwest Kirkuk early on Tuesday, killing livestock, according to villagers. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they have targeted the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic).
At around 1:30 am, ISIS fighters attacked Dogshman village in the Rashad sub-district of southern Kirkuk province. Villagers told Rudaw they locked themselves in their homes while the militants burned houses and vehicles, and killed cows, sheep, and goats.
Hussein Zedan lost his father during an uptick of ISIS activity two years ago in the same area. Today, he lost almost all his property. “The losses are huge,” he told Rudaw.
At around 1:30 am they came to our village. We locked ourselves inside our homes. We didn’t even open the doors. They were walking around the houses and wanted us to come out, but we did not,” he said. When the villagers did not come out of their homes, the militants attacked their livestock and properties.
At least 25 cows and seven sheep and goats were killed, and five cars and tractors and two houses were burned. Villagers said ISIS fighters used rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on its propaganda channel on Telegram, saying they had targeted members of Sunni brigades of the PMF. It claimed the vehicles and houses they set on fire belonged to PMF members.
Villager Khatab Mustafa said they want the Iraqi government to provide them with security, hoping that ISIS will leave the village alone if it is under the protection of government forces. “If such attacks continue, the village will be evacuated,” he said.
“There should be night vision cameras so they do not attack. People should be armed, and security checkpoints should be increased,” said another villager, Mohammed Salih.
There is a security checkpoint near the village, but their forces arrived too late to stop the ISIS militants.
Kirkuk province lies within disputed areas claimed by both the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. There is a security gap between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in these areas that ISIS exploits as a safe haven from which to launch attacks on civilian and military targets. ISIS has carried out 134 attacks in these areas so far this year.
Baghdad and Erbil are working to close this gap. This summer, they established joint coordination centres in the disputed provinces, including Kirkuk, to improve their cooperation and they are in talks to create joint brigades.
Iraqi forces daily carry out operations against ISIS. On Tuesday, security forces arrested 19 terror suspects in Kirkuk, according to a military statement.
Original source
Fire burns through Yazidi displacement camp seven years after ISIS genocide
BAGHDAD — Almost 1,400 of Iraq’s Yazidi minority were left homeless Friday after a fire destroyed sections of their displacement camp, adding a new trauma for survivors of a genocide by the Islamic State group.
Eyewitnesses said that the fire in northern Iraq’s Sharya camp, in the semiautonomous Kurdish region, ripped through the tents at frightening speed. Families lost possessions they had grabbed as they fled the militants’ onslaught seven years ago. Others lost what money they had cobbled together since.
As night fell, sobbing could be heard among the ashes, residents said, as devastated families combed the skeletons of their tents in search of anything left to be saved.
Karwan Atroushi, a spokesman for Iraq’s migration and displacement ministry, told local media that the fire had affected almost 400 tents and 1,400 people. The cause of the blaze is being investigated, he said.
Yazidis have long faced persecution for their often-misunderstood beliefs. There are fewer than 1 million Yazidis worldwide, and the United Nations has described the Islamic State’s campaign against them as a genocide. The militants kidnapped thousands of Yazidis on a single day in August 2014, massacring men near mass graves and forcing women into sexual slavery.
Those atrocities prompted the United States to launch military action, marking the start of an international campaign to defeat the Islamist militant group in Iraq and Syria.
The militants’ rampage forced hundreds of thousands of Yazidis from their homes on Mount Sinjar. Some 200,000 are still displaced, the United Nations said, many of them in dilapidated camps just a few hours’ drive from the towns and villages they fled.
Eight months after a government deal meant to help them return home, many Yazidis say they still feel unsafe doing so and that authorities have not addressed the political, security and economic concerns that have kept them away for seven years.
Inside the camps, unemployment linked to Iraq’s coronavirus crisis has pushed many families deeper into poverty as international aid dries up. Humanitarian organizations describe a mental health crisis among residents. Most witnessed the militants kill their loved ones after Kurdish security forces melted away.
Residents said that Friday’s blaze began quickly. “We already lost our house, and the tent was all we had left,” said Khalil Dawoud, 41, reached by phone. He described a frantic scramble as a fireball engulfed the camp’s awnings. Families screamed and ran. His children grabbed armfuls of what possessions they could save and joined the exodus.
“We watched from afar as the fire ate our tent,” Dawoud said. “As I was running, all I could think of was that day when we ran when the Islamic State came.”
Mayan Hussein, a psychologist supported by the Free Yazidi Foundation, said that fears of such a fire had already kept her patients awake at night. The tightly packed displacement camp had few fire prevention measures and its electrical wiring was poorly maintained. The nearest fire station is almost an hour’s drive away, residents said.
“I speak to women who sleep for just two hours at a time, because they wake up through the night to check that their tent is still safe,” Hussein said.
In a statement, the U.N. refugee agency said that it was “saddened” by the incident. “We are working with local authorities and partners to determine needs and appropriate ways to provide assistance to the affected families,” the agency said. Iraq’s displacement minister also visited the camp in the aftermath of the blaze, sharing photographs of her reassuring residents that support was on its way.
But hours later, Dawoud was skeptical over what would follow after she left. Discombobulated neighbors said they didn’t want more tents — they feared those would burn again. “To the government we were always the ones who didn’t matter,” Dawoud said as he searched with his family for a place to sleep that night. “The suffering of the Yazidi will never end.”
Original source
More than $1 million in damages from clashes for Zakho villages, resorts
ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region - Villages and resorts in northern Duhok province have lost more than a million dollars this summer because of Turkey’s offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Villages have been evacuated and damaged, and resorts are empty of tourists.
“We invested $7,000 in this [house] but Turkey damaged it and now it is gone,” said Ali Muhsin, a former resident of Bihere village located within the Zakho district.
Bihere, along with 21 other villages, has been affected by Turkish military operations that were launched in April, according to the mayor of Zakho’s office.
“We fled to Darkar, selling our 600 goats,” Muhsin added.
When Turkey bombarded the yard of his house in May and injured his brother, they and five other families fled the village. Since then, no one has returned, except for brief visits to their property.
Additionally, 28 resorts have been affected by the bombardment, the Sharansh waterfall being one of them. It used to see 20,000 tourists annually, however, that was not the case this year.
“I invested nearly $20-30,000 in it this year,” said Ali Mahmoud, the owner of the tourist destination. “Ten families live off the resort, including workers, villagers and us. This is no longer the case.”
According to the mayor’s office, losses in 50 villages and resorts have totaled 1.6 billion dinars ($1.1 million) due to the clashes between the PKK and Turkey.
A total of 30 villages in Zakho have been evacuated since April 24.
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