Baghdad, Kurds vow liberation of Nineveh

BAGHDAD, April 6, (Agencies): Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Baghdad government would work with Kurdish authorities to liberate the northern province of Nineveh from Islamic State militants.

During his first visit to the Kurdistan region since becoming Prime Minister last year, Abadi said Baghdad and Erbil faced a common enemy and would improve ties to help confront the threat.

“Our visit to Erbil today is to coordinate and cooperate on a joint plan to liberate the people of Nineveh,” Abadi said at a joint news conference with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani on Monday.

Abadi declined to lay out a timetable for the plan to retake Nineveh, of which Mosul is capital, in order not to lose the “element of surprise”.

The trip comes less than a week after Islamic State militants were driven out of the city of Tikrit by Iraqi forces including Shi’ite militia, backed by coalition air strikes.

Asked about reported abuses by the Shi’ite militia, who are grouped together as Popular Mobilisation Committees or Hashid Shaabi, Abadi said it was not fair to level the accusation at the entire force.

“There’s a small group that attempts to attach itself to the Hahsid Shaabi and attack civilians and their belongings and offend the Hahsid Shaabi,” Abadi said. “Our measures are to arrest these people and present them to court and we have indeed arrested.”

Iraq’s prime minister vowed on Monday to protect the people living in territories controlled by the Islamic State group from any retribution or rights violations when their lands are retaken by government forces.

Speaking in Irbil, capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish region, Haider al-Abadi pledged that the “properties and rights” of local residents would be respected once Islamic State militants were driven out.

“We assure the people of Anbar and Ninevah provinces and other territories under IS control that we do respect the people and will not tolerate any violations against their properties, rights and souls,” al-Abadi said.

Volunteer Shiite militiamen, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, have fought alongside Iraqi army troops and are credited with playing a crucial role in pushing Islamic State militants out of Tikrit and other cities. However the Iranian-backed Shiite militias have also been accused of looting and vandalizing the Sunni towns they have retaken.

Al-Abadi admits that dozens of houses and shops were burned in Tikrit, and that several people were arrested and now await trial over violations committed there.

With Tikrit taken, many residents expect the government offensive to now target either Anbar province or Ninevah province — home to Iraq’s secondlargest city, Mosul — for the next phase of the effort to push back the Islamic State group. But some Sunni residents remain fearful that a government victory would simply trade the harsh rule of the Islamic militants for vengeance from undisciplined Shiite militiamen.

The Islamic State group controls about a third of northern and western Iraq.

In Monday’s violence, police and hospital officials said three people were killed and 17 others were wounded in two separate bombings targeting public spaces in the capital, Baghdad.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian official said Monday a delegation was heading to Damascus for talks on helping residents inside the Yarmuk refugee camp, parts of which have been overrun by the Islamic State group.

Hundreds of families have been evacuated from the camp in a southern neighbourhood of Damascus after IS jihadists launched on attack on Wednesday.

Palestinian forces inside Yarmuk are largely surrounded by IS fighters who have captured large parts of the camp.

Ahmed Majdalani, an official with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told AFP that the delegation would focus its efforts on providing security and assistance to the camp.

“We will discuss with a number of Syrian officials securing the relief corridor opened yesterday to deliver humanitarian aid and getting civilians out so they won’t become human shields for the terrorist Daesh group,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The delegation will also hold meetings with various Palestinian factions to discuss how to counter IS threats, said Majdalani, who is heading the group.

Majdalani accused IS militants of “seeking to control the whole camp” and to use it “as a springboard for attacks on the Syrian capital Damascus because of its strategic location”.

He said the visit comes after talks with officials in several Arab countries.