Iraq: Three civilians killed and 16 injured in protests in Kirkuk

At least three Kurds were killed and 16 wounded on Saturday during rival demonstrations in Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city in northern Iraq where authorities have imposed a curfew, local officials said.

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Among the three deceased, two were shot in the chest and the third in the head, reported the director of the local medical authorities, Ziad Khalaf, to AFP. One was 21 years old and the other two 37.

The injured people16 according to the new balance, were hit by “shots, throwing stones or glass,” added Khalaf, who specified that three of them are members of the security forces.

He had previously indicated that the wounded included Kurds and Arabs.

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The demonstrations Rivals gathered Kurdish residents on one side and Turkmen and Arab protesters on the other on Saturday and unleashed violence despite the presence of security forces.

Security forces, deployed to prevent violence between the two sides, fired warning shots to force the Kurdish protesters to disperse.

Several vehicles were set on fire on a large avenue, according to an AFP journalist.

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Some 31 “protesters” were detained, five of whom were armed,” a security official told AFP in Kirkuk late Saturday night.

– Curfew – Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani ordered in a statement on Saturday “the establishment of a curfew in Kirkuk and the organization of extensive security operations to sweep the areas shaken by riots.”

Al Sudani also called for an investigation to be opened and promised that those responsible for the violence would be “held to account.”

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For almost a week, tensions have been escalating in Kirkuka city historically disputed between the federal government of Baghdad and the authorities of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, in the north.

On Monday, protesters from the Arab and Turkmen communities staged a sit-in near the headquarters of the Iraqi security forces in the province of Kirkukafter reports that the prime minister had ordered the site to be handed over to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which had previously occupied it.

On Saturday, Kurdish protesters mobilized in the late afternoon and tried to reach the headquarters, an AFP correspondent observed.

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To calm the situation, the governor of KirkukRakan Said al Juburi, announced that he would postpone the departure of the headquarters of the security forces to get the Arab and Turkmen protesters to end their sit-in.

For their part, the Kurdish protesters continued to mobilize in another sector of the city where they burned tires, according to an AFP correspondent.

Despite difficult relations, the Sudani government had been relatively successful in recent months in improving relations between Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdistan.

Sudani and the Kurdish historical leader, Massoud Barzani, agreed in a telephone conversation on the need to work together “to defeat those who seek to undermine the security and stability of Kirkuk”.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.