KDP member found dead in Sinjar
He had returned to his hometown after being displaced by ISIS in 2014.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Authorities in the Yezidi-majority town of Snuny on Friday found a missing Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member dead with bullet holes and torture marks on his body, family members told Kurdistan 24.
Ahmed Hussein Hamad went missing on Friday at 2 am local time after leaving his home in Snuny sub-district Sinjar’s north, a close family member, who wished to remain anonymous, told Kurdistan 24 on Friday.
Early Friday morning, the dead 45-year-old man was found in the area with signs of torture and at least eight bullet holes on his body, the source told Kurdistan 24.
His family told Kurdistan 24 that they suspect the murder was “politically motivated”.
The KDP member was also an officer at the Sinjar Command of the Peshmerga. He had returned to his hometown after being displaced by ISIS in 2014.
Since 2017, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been the dominant force in the Yezidi town. In October that year, Iraqi forces, including Iran-backed militias, seized the disputed territory from the Peshmerga.
More than 20,000 militants belonging to at least seven armed groups are currently present in the Sinjar region. Sinjar’s native Yezidi population has not fully returned since the 2014 Yezidi genocide, with many of them still living in displaced person camps in Duhok province.
Rights groups regularly call on the armed groups to allow the return of the displaced population, who still fear the instability of the area under the control of those groups.
In October 2020, Erbil and Baghdad signed an agreement to administer the security and management of Sinjar jointly. However, the Sinjar agreement has not been fully implemented due to obstacles raised by the armed groups.
