The following report contains specific cases of violations that Popular Mobilizations Units (PMU) committed to against the Kurdish people in Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and Khanaqin.
As the conflict continues and sometimes escalates up to day, the number the facts and figures change accordingly in terms of the raising number of displaced persons, casualties, looting and destructions and specific cases of violation. It is worth noting that as the process of PMU arrival was very swift and the destructions were massive, there is no accurate data or any fact finding mission dispatched on what has happened, however, the KRG HCERIR, through its sources have collected important information regarding the consequences of the conflict.
PMF has perpetrated acts that are unlawful and against the Iraqi constitution such as arresting people outside law and without a court order. Deliberate attempts have also been done to change the demography of the areas by forcibly displacing the Kurdish people from their original areas of residence and preventing the displaced ones to return to their areas.
The Hashd militia continues to loot, destroy and burn civilian’s houses and properties, insulting the dead bodies of civilians by dragging them on the streets by cars, insulting the Kurdish leaders and the national symbols of Kurdistan such as the Kurdish flag by stepping on it and burning it as well as mocking in the Kurdish traditional costume. The PMF units also encourage the Sunni Arabs to register with them in order to fight against the Kurdish people in the area. Other brutal crimes by PMF include sexual abuse of the Kurdish girls and women, kidnapping Kurdish civilians including children and viciously torturing and killing them.
According to KRG HCERIR sources in Tuz Khurmatu, up to October 2nd, 112 casualties have occurred, 126, 000 people have faced forced displacement, 152 civilian houses have been exploded, 12 political offices, 5 radio stations, a TV, 1102 civilian houses and 380 shops were burnt by PMF.
In their latest activities, the PMU has deployed unofficial troops from the South and Central Iraq, some of which speak Persian. Since the crisis started, Hashd Al-Sha’bi has begun threatening the civilians as well as journalists by blackmailing them via text messages or throwing the threatening messages in their houses. The activities of the media, especially Kurdish channels and journalist to cover the situations, have been restricted.
The militia forces that have active presence in and around Kirkuk, TuzKhurmatu, Khanaqin, Ninevah Plains, Zummar and Sinjar, are Hashd Al-Sha’bi, Turkmen Hashd, Quds Forces, Badr Forces and Asa'ibAhl al-Haq also known as the KhazAli Network in addition to many other forces that belong to the Shiitte PMF.
The KRG will continue to urge the international community to address the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Kirkuk.
General Statistics
* KRG security and intelligence sources say that in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu dozens of civilians were killed by PMF and Iraqi forces.
* The latest statistics of IDPs that we have received from the KRG joint Crisis Coordination (JCC) are as the following:
The total Number of IDPs from Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Khurmato, Zummar, Rabea
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Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Prde
• October 16, 2017, 3 young men in Shorija neighborhood were kidnapped by Turkmen Hashd who asked for ransom in exchange of giving them back.
• October 16, 2017, a university professor, named Khalid peshawa in the International Relations Department and who has a master’s degree.
• October 17, 2017, the houses of Kurdish, Sunni Arabs and Turkmens were looted in Failaq, Shaterlu, Imam Qasemand Arafa neighborhoods in Kirkuk.
• October 17, 2017, Many government and political offices were burnt down along with civilians houses in Rehimawa and Imam Qasem neighborhood in Kirkuk.
• October 18, 2017, arrest orders were issued for government employees, especially North Oil Company and Kirkuk Provincial Council employees, as well as forcing the employees to resign by an administrative decision.
• A case of rape and sexual abuse was recorded in Tuz Khurmatu. A young girl and her mother in a family of four were raped by 8 PMF militia in front of their family. They were later released and due to the pain that the event inflicted on the father, he deliberately got into a car accident in order to die with his family.
• Houses in Rehimawa, Imam Qasem, Shurija, Shaterlu, Elmas and Failaq were coming under attack at night and the families were continuously receiving threatening messages and insults.
• Intending to insult, an elderly woman was raped by Hashd militia in Laylan neighborhood in Kirkuk.
• October 18, 2017, civilians were randomly arrested by the PMF militia without any legal bases in Kirkuk neighborhoods like Arafa, ImamQasem, Failaq, Saqa Al-Tayran, Shurija and Elmas.
• October 19, 2017, burning some shops and two pharmacies in Tuz Khurmatu.
• October 19, 2017 offenses were done to the statue of Peshmerga in Kirkuk and was later exploded.
• October 20, 2017, Destruction of civilian houses, burning and looting shops and businesses in Imam Qasem, Musla and Rehimawa neighborhoods in Kirkuk.
• October 21, 2017: a Kurdish civilian’s house was invaded by Hashd militia rehimawa, Kirkuk and he was told it is not his home anymore.
• Banning Kurdish language in Kirkuk schools as soon as they got their hand on Kirkuk.
• Kidnapping an Arab displaced kid from Hawija residing in Kirkuk by the PMF by the excuse that his dad works in a political party office.
• Kidnapping a 10 year old Arab displaced kid in Kum Belk village, South East of Kirkuk who was a shepherd.
• October 23, 2017, Turkmen Hashd kidnapped 5 university students on campus and in public.
• According to statistics from the Kirkuk provincial council, 300, 000 people became displaced from Kirkuk.
• October 18, 2017, a civilian named Saman Faraj who was headed to Kirkuk was stopped at a Hashd checkpoint where he was insulted and beaten due to his growing mustache and was said to be a Kaka’ee.
• October 23, 2017, PMF militia deployed hundreds of unofficial militia from south and central Iraq in Kirkuk. Some of the militia forces were of Iranian origin spoke Persian and were holding Shiitte flags. These unofficial militias only attack civilian houses during night.
• October 22, 2017, a threatening message was thrown into the house of a high school teacer named Fares Muhammed urging him to leave his house immediately otherwise he would be killed.
• October 21, 2017, a teenage in Shaterlu, Kirkuk was taken by a Hashd militia group and he was beaten because he wrote “I love Kurdistan” on his left arm in English.
• PMF militia are still present, especially in significant locations like K1, Babagurgur, North oil Company and Sheterlu, Elmas, Arafa, Imam Qasim.
• October 27, 2017, a Mula named MulaYashar in Arafa neighborhood in Kirkuk.
• Some security staff members of Kurdish political parties have been run over by military tanks and later killed.
• PMF forces have burnt and exploded the political party offices in Kirkuk.
• Preventing the Head of the Kirkiuk Security from speaking Kurdish in a press conference despite that Kurdish language is one of the official languages in Iraq according to the constitution.
The situation of the displaced persons:
The arrival of PMF forces in Kirkuk province and its surrounding areas resulted in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, the situation of the displaced Kurdish civilians as well as Turkmen and Christians remains in dire situations. The people fled their homes only with what they were wearing and limited food for the young ones due to the fear of Hashd atrocities.
The international Partners did not have any immediate emergency responses in the face of the displacement. The help that was available for the displaced persons came from the people of Kurdistan in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, and Duhok provinces. Humanitarian activists and volunteers put their efforts in order to collect donations such as basic food supplies, medicine, and shelter. Thousands of students were cut from school and took refuge on the streets, unfinished buildings, or relatives’ houses in the Kurdish provinces. The people of Kirkuka, TuzKhurmatu and Khanaqin remain in sholck about what Iranian-backed PMU and Iraqi forces perpetrated against them.
