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Artillery fire hits Iraq town despite ceasefire: officials
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Artillery fire killed a civilian on Monday despite a ceasefire
Fighting broke out at the weekend in Tuz Khurmatu between the autonomous Kurdish region’s peshmerga forces and Turkmen members of the Hashed al-Shaabi militia umbrella organization for the second time in six months. "Clashes were renewed sporadically in Tuz, but it was not like yesterday," said Mohammed Koja, the deputy governor of Salaheddin province where the town is located. Koja said that mortar rounds and rocket fire had killed one person and maimed four. A police colonel confirmed the toll but it was unclear which side killed the civilian. The initial festivities between Turkmen and Kurdish forces began at around midnight Saturday and continued into Sunday. Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of the Badr militia, announced at a presser on Sunday afternoon that a ceasefire deal had been reached. But a witness in the town said gunfire and periodic kabooms could still be heard. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the Joint Operations Command to take "all necessary measures" to end the festivities, a statement from his office said. And he urged the leaders of the forces involved to "focus efforts against the common terrorist enemy represented by the ISIS gangs," the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Both the peshmerga and the Turkmen fighters are battling ISIS, which overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014. But Kurdish forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi are vying for influence in some areas, a contest that has led to violence in Tuz Khurmatu. The latest fighting came after unrest in Tuz Khurmatu last November that began as a dispute at a checkpoint escalated into festivities inside the town. Dozens of homes were burned, and the town has been split between Kurdish and Turkmen areas, with neighborhood minority residents moving back across the ethnic divide. Baghdad turned to the Hashed al-Shaabi, which is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias, to help stem the hard boys’ 2014 advance and later push them back. Kurdish forces also battled the faceless myrmidons in the north, but have largely fought independently of federal troops. "We are ready to withdraw from Tuz if they withdraw" (IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – On Monday the leader in the paramilitary Peshmerga force Hassan Bahran revealed, that the Kurdish forces are ready to withdraw from Tuz Khurmatu in Salahuddin Province if the forces of al-Hashd al-Turkmani militia withdrew from the district. Bahran said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The Peshmerga forces and al-Hashd al-Turkmani have to withdraw from the district, and a federal military force should come to impose security [procedures] in Tuz District,” pointing out that, “The Peshmerga forces are ready to withdraw from the district if al-Hashd al-Turkmani withdrew.” Bahran also called the Peshmerga forces and al-Hashd al-Turkmani to carry out military operations against ISIS and not against each other, while asked them to liberate al-Bashir area from ISIS militants. Posted by: Fred 2016-04-26 |
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