Iraqi PM: ‘Some’ perpetrators of attack on KDP office arrested, others ‘pursued’
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government announced on Saturday the arrest of 15 individuals allegedly responsible for a brazen attack earlier in the day on the main Baghdad office of a leading Kurdish party during a march by hundreds of supporters of Iran-aligned militias.
Carrying banners of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)—a conglomeration of mostly Tehran-backed Shia militias known in Arabic as the Hashd al-Shaabi—, the crowd stormed the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) office in central Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood.
هكذا أحرق أنصار الحشد الشعبي علم كوردستان ومبنى الفرع الخامس للحزب الديمقراطي الكوردستاني في بغداد
— Kurdistan24 عربية (@arabick24) October 17, 2020
صور: AFP + الأناضول pic.twitter.com/NSw96g4cYS
They then torched the building and made a show of setting fire to the Kurdistan flag just outside.
The attack was roundly condemned by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and multiple top Kurdish officials, with Erbil calling on Baghdad to “to take legal action against the culprits and hold them accountable.”
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The KDP official who heads the office asserted that his staff had previously alerted Iraqi authorities about repeated threats to attack the building, warnings that appear to have been ignored or at least not properly followed up on. No party members were wounded, according to another official.
Calling for “unity, stability and dialogue,” the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) expressed “grave concern” about the attack and condemned it. “Acts of violence and intimidation (never a solution to disagreement!) are to be condemned.” The EU representation in Iraq also called the attack “sad and worrying.”
PMF militias have been behind multiple rocket attacks against US facilities including the embassy in Baghdad, as well as other US interests in Iraq.
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Following the incident, the federal government’s National Security Council held a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, also Iraq’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The body denounced the attack in a statement that said 15 suspects had been arrested.
Kadhimi then wrote in a tweet that security forces had detained “some of the perpetrators” and were pursuing “others.”
The council vowed that the government would take “firm” measures against anyone who acts to “break the prestige of the state and the rule of law.” It also called on the country’s political officials to “exercise caution” when making statements that may “destabilize social stability,” and to “address crises through dialogue.”
The latter claim appears to be an indirect criticism of Hoshyar Zebari, the senior KDP figure who served as Iraq's foreign minister for over a decade. IN an interview, he said that “in order to thwart the potential closure of the US Embassy in Baghdad,” the Iraqi government should “clean” the Green Zone – home to the US Embassy and many other foreign diplomatic missions – of the presence of the militias.
Today’s storming and burning of #KDP office in down town #Baghdad under the guise of #ISF & anti riot police of 500 strong show that the unruly militia are in charge and NOT gov forces. A sad reminder of the state of #Iraqi State.
— Hoshyar Zebari (@HoshyarZebari) October 17, 2020
Zebari later tweeted that the attack was carried out “under the guise of ISF [Iraqi security forces] & anti riot police of 500 strong” and said it showed “that the unruly militia are in charge and NOT gov forces.”
Editing by John J. Catherine