Turkmen party: Shiite militia, Iraqi Turkmen Front looted our offices in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – On Tuesday, Iranian-backed Shiite militias and the Iraqi Turkmen front stormed the house of the Turkmen leader and his party in Kirkuk after taking control of the city, according the Turkmen party's spokesman.

“The militiamen of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which is an armed group within the Hashd al-Shaabi, stormed and looted the house of the Secretary-General of the Turkmen People’s Party Irfan Kirkukli, and its party offices in Kirkuk,” Mohammed Kirkukli, told Kurdistan 24.

On Monday, the Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and Iraqi Forces attacked and took control of the city of Kirkuk. Hundred of people were killed or injured, with most casualties affecting local armed volunteers and Peshmerga soldiers, according to a local hospital in the city.

“The militia group has written sectarian slogans and names on our office walls and claimed the buildings as their own,” Kirkukli said.

He accused the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Ershad Salihi, of looting and occupying the offices in the city.

The party spokesman mentioned that while they were leaving Kirkuk on Monday, the armed group opened fire on them.

Commenting on other members of his party, Kirkukli noted that the Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen and the Iraqi Turkmen Front entered the Turkmen People’s Party members' house and fired their weapons indoor.

Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, comprised of Turkmen, Arabs, and Christians groups and a Kurdish majority.

Photos released on social media suggested that the Iraqi Turkmen Front had raised its blue flag on a number of political parties' offices in Kirkuk.

Monday's assault on Kirkuk led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people to the neighboring Erbil and Sulaimani provinces, in fear of human rights abuses and violations at the hands of the militia groups.

The Turkmen People’s Party was one of the parties who favored the Kurdistan Region’s referendum on independence, in which Kirkuk participated. The Iraqi Turkmen Front, however, was one of the parties strongly opposed to the vote and issued a formal complaint with Iraqi courts against Kirkuk's Governor and the head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) for holding the referendum.

Editing by G.H. Renaud