Iraqis flee Tal Afar amid air raids
‘Kurdish autonomy vote risks civil war’
badoush (Iraq) — Thousands of Iraqis have fled a Daesh-held town west of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition warplanes step up strikes ahead of a ground offensive to drive out the militants.
Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of Daesh-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in July in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. The town, about 150km east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key Daesh supply route.
On Monday, hundreds of exhausted civilians were brought by Iraqi army trucks from the front line to a humanitarian collection point just west of Mosul. Many described a harrowing journey of a day or more from Tal Afar, with no food or water.
Jassem Aziz Tabo, an elderly man who arrived with his 12-member family, said he had left Tal Afar months ago and gone to a village on the outskirts to escape hunger, air strikes and violence from the militants.
“Those who tried to escape were captured and shot in the head. They killed my son,” he said. “He tried to escape, he was caught and they killed him.”
He said severe shortages have caused the price of food to skyrocket in Tal Afar, which has been besieged by Iraqi forces for months, with a kilogram of sugar selling for $50.
“There was nothing. We were eating pieces of bread with water,” he said.
Alia Imad, a mother of three whose family paid $300 to a smuggler to lead them to safety, said there is no drinking water left in the town. “Most people drink water that’s not clean. The majority are surviving on that and a bit of bread,” she said.
The group she was with had come under fire during their escape from the militants, she said. A woman was killed, and they had to bury her by the road.
Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator, said conditions in Tal Afar are “very tough”.
“Thousands of people are leaving, seeking safety and assistance. Families escaping northeast are trekking
Iraqi armoured units head for the town of Tal Afar in preparation for a ground assault.
Those who tried to escape were captured and shot in the head. They killed my son. He tried to escape, he was caught and they killed him. There was nothing to eat in Tal Afar. We were eating pieces of bread with water. Jassem Aziz Tabo, Tal Afar resident
10 and up to 20 hours to reach mustering points. They are exhausted and many are dehydrated when they finally arrive,” she said.
Lt-Gen. Anwar Hama, of the Iraqi air force, said that air strikes this week have targeted Daesh headquarters, tunnels and weapons’ stores.
But Iraqi forces, closely backed by the US-led coalition, are not expected to push into the town for another few weeks, according to an Iraqi officer overseeing the operation.
Iraqi army, federal police and special forces units are expected to participate in the operation, as well as state-sanctioned mostly Shia militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
The militiamen largely stayed out of the operation to retake Mosul but have vowed to play a bigger role in Tal Afar. The militias captured Tal Afar’s airport, on the outskirts of the town, last year.
Their participation in the coming offensive could heighten sectarian and regional tensions. Tal Afar was once home to Shia and Sunni, as well as a sizable ethnic Turkmen community with close ties to neighbouring — AFP Turkey. Turkish officials have expressed concern that once territory is liberated from Daesh, Iraqi Kurdish or Shia forces may push out Sunnis or ethnic Turkmen.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said his country would be watching the operation closely.
“Tal Afar is a town where almost the entire population is Turkmen. We have always considered it a priority for the region to be cleared from (Daesh) and for it to be returned to its owners,” Bozdag said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. — AP ankara — Turkey warned on Wednesday that plans by the leadership in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence could lead to civil war, in Ankara’s strongest warning yet against next month’s poll.
“In that country (Iraq), which has been through so many problems, a referendum on independence can make the situation even worse,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state TRT Haber broadcaster.
“God forbid, it could even bring it to civil war,” he added.
Turkey has a substantial Kurdish minority which is sometimes estimated as making up around a quarter of its total population of just under 80 million.
Ankara has in recent years forged strong ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq but is extremely wary of any move towards independence by the region.
Turkish security forces in the southeast of the country are still fighting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly three-decade insurgency.
The PKK initially aimed to carve out an independent Kurdish state in the southeast although its declared ambitions are now more focused on autonomy and rights. — AFP
In that country (Iraq), which has been through so many problems, a referendum on independence can make the situation even worse Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister