Kurdish protester killed by PMF in Kirkuk

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – One Kurdish protester in Kirkuk has been reportedly killed and thirteen others were injured on Saturday after being shot by members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Kurds were protesting the closure of the Kirkuk-Erbil road by the PMF after the latter opposed the handover of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) headquarters on Aug. 28, as mandated by Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani.

PMF supporters thus blocked the Kirkuk-Erbil road, causing obstacles for drivers and residents of the Rahimawa and Shoraw neighborhoods.

Demonstrators stated that they would continue to protest until the PMF fighters opened the road, and they called on the political parties to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

Kurdistan 24 recorded a chaotic scene throughout Kirkuk on Saturday evening. As Kurdish protesters chanted the slogan “Kirkuk is Kurdistan,” several vehicle fires were witnessed and gunshots were heard throughout various neighborhoods. 

Following the military takeover of Kirkuk by the Iranian-backed Shiite militia forces and Iraqi military on Oct. 16, 2017, the KDP has ceased all its operations in the province in protest of the PMF attacks on the oil-rich province.

The party’s headquarters and offices have since been occupied by Iraqi forces. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had recently notified those forces that they should hand over the buildings to the KDP ahead of the provincial elections on Dec. 18, 2023.

Members of the militia forces have been protesting in front of what is used by the KDP headquarters in Kirkuk since last week against the decision, calling for not allowing the party to return.

The party’s main headquarters, which used to serve as its Kirkuk leadership office, is currently used by the Kirkuk Joint Operations Command Center. It was previously the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Services headquarters for a brief period.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front and Arabic Coalition headed by Rakan al-Jabouri, who has been acting as Kirkuk governor since 2017, have publicly opposed the KDP’s return to the oil-rich province.

Kirkuk is home to a mix of ethnicities, primarily among them Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, and is the most emblematic of territories disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan region.

The oil-rich province was under the protection of Kurdish Peshmerga forces after the emergence of ISIS in 2014 and the subsequent collapse of the Iraqi army, until the takeover of the province by the PMF in Oct. 2017.