Peshmerga comments on Khanaqins’ attack

Shafaq News / Peshmerga Ministry condemned on Sunday the attack by Islamic State (ISIS) organization on a village of Kakai Kurds in the disputed Khanaqin district between Erbil and Baghdad, which left 12 casualties.

“An armed group attacked Dara village affiliated to Khanaqin District yesterday’s night, killing seven people of a Kurdish Kakai family and wounding five others,” The ministry said in a statement today.

In its statement, the ministry called on the Iraqi forces in those borders to protect the lives and property of innocent people without any national or religious discrimination.

The statement stressed that during the last period, we warned many times from the absence of Peshmerga forces in those areas and the dangers of the security vacuum between Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army.

The situation requires activating a joint higher committee from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Peshmerga to fill the security gaps in a way that protects the lives and property of citizens with its Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and all religious components.

The statement pointed out that by targeting the Kurds in those areas and evicting the Kurdish villages by force, crimes and killing is the terrorist groups’ action only that wants to evict the Kurds from the region and continue the Arabization and displacement operations in it.

The statement clarified, therefore, we assure all parties that Peshmerga forces have a duty to prevent the terrorists ’dream against the citizens, and we will respond violently to any terrorist attempt.

Khanaqin city is witnessing a clear rise in the rates of security breaches, which became almost daily after the withdrawal of Peshmerga forces 2017, which were deployed in the region and controlled it in terms of security before their withdrawal in front of the progress of the Iraqi forces.