Local officer refutes reports on PMF deploying troops in the regional waters near Kuwait 

Shafaq News/ The chair of Basra's Organization for Iraqi fisherpersons, Badran al-Tamimi, refuted the media reports about al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) dispatching a force to protect the Iraqi fisherpersons working in the regional waters Iraq shares with Kuwait.

"A PMF security delegation visited yesterday the fish auction and inquired on the status of Iraqi fisherpersons in the regional waters. We answered their questions and they left and nothing else happened," al-Tamimi said in a statement to Shafaq News Agency.

"The Kuwaiti coastguards continue to harass the Iraqi fisherpersons; increasingly lately, infact," he added, "however, there are no detainees in the custody of the Kuwaiti authorities, except for an Iraqi person sentenced to life."

"The reports about PMF taking control of the regional waters with Kuwait are baseless," he concluded.

Yesterday, Iraqi MP Alaa al-Haidari called on the PMF to deploy forces along the regional waters Iraq shares with Kuwait to protect the Iraqi fisherpersons from the Kuwaiti coastguards harassment.

Later, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing discontent with the statements of the Iraqi lawmaker.