Baghdad Kurds under attack
"Many Kurdish residents in Baghdad are forced to leave their homes.”
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The only Kurdish member of Baghdad Provincial Council (BPC), Fuad Ali Akbar, says Kurds who reside in the capital of Iraq are under continuous, serious threats by various militias.
In an interview with K24 on Friday, Akbar said, “There is no guarantee Kurds will be safe in Baghdad; they receive death threats and are under constant attack. Many are forced to leave their homes.”
Kurds residing in the capital of Iraq have never received protection from their government, neither during Saddam Hussein’s era nor under the rule of the current regime. “Kurds have always been targeted in Baghdad,” Akbar stated.
According to the BPC member, authorities are aware of this situation. “Both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government know that the Kurdish residents in Baghdad are in danger.
The citizens are attacked for no reason other than their ethnicity. "The armed groups target the Kurds in Baghdad because they think every Kurd is loyal to the Kurdistan Region authorities and officials, and must be punished for that,” Akbar added.
“A while ago, a group of armed men threw a sound bomb into a Kurdish house in Baghdad,” he said. Sound bombs are acoustic devices that can cause deafness.
Akbar also told K24 that it is not clear which militia is responsible for the attacks and threats. “We have been in contact with different militias, but no one has claimed any responsibility yet.”
Previously, Adil Nouri, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, told K24 that the lives of Kurds in Baghdad are in jeopardy. “The militias who threaten the Kurds are varied; mainly Asaib Ahl al-Haq led by Qais al-Khazali and Iraqi Hezbollah. The government has no authority over them.”
Nouri, who called the campaign against the Kurdish residents in Baghdad a ‘second Anfal,’ said, "They receive threats when traveling from the Kurdistan Region to Baghdad, when going to Baghdad via the airport, or when they are in their own neighborhoods.”
Reporting by Baxtiyar Goran
Editing by Ava Homa and Karzan Sulaivany