Iraqi official says ISIS behind recent crop fires
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An Iraqi government official said on Thursday that members of the so-called Islamic State were behind crop fires in at least two provinces in recent weeks, though without much further clarification.
Still-lit cigarettes left in grain fields, deliberately or otherwise, are among a number of possible causes named, said Mahdi al-Qaisy, an advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture, in comments to the Iraqi News Agency in which he was citing a Civil Defense Directorate assessment.
“Da’esh terrorist gangs are responsible for setting fires in agricultural crops in two or more provinces and the rest of the fires were caused by negligence and oversight,” said Qaisy. He also claimed that the blazes had not threatened the country’s “food security.”
Coinciding with the arrival of the harvest season, crop field burnings started again recently, with Islamic State militants being accused of being behind some of them. This is amid a general uptick in the terrorist organization’s activity across Iraq.
Related Article: Iraqi forces launch security operations against ISIS remnants in Kirkuk, Diyala provinces
On Thursday afternoon, local media reports indicated that militants launched three mortar shells on a farming village in the western portion of Diyala province. Five people were reportedly wounded and transported to a nearby hospital, as security force teams were dispatched to the area.
Last year, the terrorist group claimed responsibility for several of the arson fires while others, government authorities have reported, were either accidents or allegedly deliberately started by the owners of the farms in question.
Related Article: Iraq releases latest crop fire figures; disputed territories worst hit
In mid-2019, Iraq's human rights commission urged officials in Baghdad to take serious action to limit the destruction, warning that the losses would substantially impact future food supply in Iraq as well as the livelihood of farmers for whom it is the primary source of income.
Recent attacks took place near the disputed town of Makhmour, southwest of Erbil province. Islamic State members "have yet again started burning the wheat fields of innocent farmers," said Peshmerga commander Sirwan Barzani on Monday.
Read More: ISIS burns crop fields in Iraq’s disputed Makhmour: Peshmerga commander
Territories disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal Iraqi government appear to have been among the worst-affected regions across the country by the latest surge in terrorist activity. Islamic State remnants have targeted civilians and security forces, killing dozens in recent months.
Kurdish military officials have said that a “security vacuum” has made areas lacking Erbil-Baghdad coordination more vulnerable to an insurgency that continues despite the terrorist group losing all its land claims in late 2017.
A Kurdistan Region Peshmerga Ministry delegation will visit Baghdad for bilateral talks on security-related files, a ministry official told local media on Monday.
Editing by John J. Catherine