Iraq latest
Legislators seek a ban on Shiite militia for killings in Diyala
Parliament is suspended until tomorrow after statement by Sunni MPs to disband and disarm Shiite militias,
BAGHDAD // Iraq’s parliament suspended its meeting yesterday amid protests by Sunni Muslim MPs over violence that targeted their community in eastern Iraq.
A statement by Sunni legislators urged prime minister Haider Al Abadi to disband and disarm the Shiite militia, which they accuse of being behind the latest attacks that targeted the town of Muqdadiya.
Two Sunni MPs, Raad Al Dahlaki and Nahida Al Daini from Diyala province where Muqdadiya is located, said 43 people had been killed over the past week in the town and nine mosques were fire-bombed. Another MP, Salah Muzahim, put the death toll at 40.
Rising sectarian violence would represent a further challenge to Mr Al Abadi, a moderate Shiite who is trying to reconcile the Sunnis and win them over to fight ISIL, the ultra-hardline Sunni group that declared a caliphate in 2014 over large territories of Iraq and Syria.
“The Iraqi forces coalition ... as the representative of the Sunni component in Iraq, announces ... its members’ boycott of the next two sessions of parliament and government in condemnation of what is happening in Muqdadiya,” said MP Ahmed Masari, referring to attacks on residents in the town 80 kilometres north-east of Baghdad.
“We demand the dissolution and disarmament of the [Shiite] militias.”
Legislators met briefly yesterday and decided to adjourn until tomorrow.
Iraq’s interior ministry has not published a toll for Sunni casualties in Muqdadiya and the neighbouring villages in Diyala province.
Badr organisation, the Iranbacked Shiite militia which is dominant in Diyala, said the casualty figures quoted by the Sunni MPs were incorrect.
“Yes, there are people killed but this number is exaggerated,” said Mohammed Naji, an aide to Badr leader Hadi Al Amiri.
He described the attacks on Sunni mosques as violence by people who want to stir up sectarian tension in Diyala, which lies between Baghdad and the Iranian border, and has a mixed population of Shiites and Sunnis.
Shiite militiamen deployed in Muqdadiya after two blasts killed 23 people in a coffee shop where they usually meet. ISIL claimed the attacks, saying they targeted Shiites.
The level of violence in Muqdadiya has receded but tension remains as the town is still under the control of Shiite militiamen, MPs Mr Dahlaki and Mr Daini said.
Badr organisation has established itself as the ascendant militia in the region since rolling back ISIL’s advance in 2014. Its leader Mr Amiri last week expressed regret over the sectarian violence and offered to rebuild the destroyed Sunni mosques.
Many Sunnis fled their homes there when Badr advanced to roll back ISIL.