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Recruitment centre blast may have been work of
insurgents who’d infiltrated the security forces.
Bahia Abdullahr, 58, touched the soil and stones
surrounding her son’s grave as she wept and stared
at the sky.
“Oh God, who did this to my son?” she sobbed. “The
government is responsible for the death of my son.”
Abdullahr’s son was one of the more than 60 people
who were killed on May 4 after a suicide bomber blew
himself up at a local Kurdistan Democratic Party,
KDP, office, which also served as a police
recruitment centre.
It came just over a year after more than 100 people
were killed in the city when two suicide bombers
blew themselves up at the headquarters of the KDP
and its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK.
Like many Erbil residents, Abdullahr blames the
negligence of the security forces for the death of
her son and the dozens of others who were killed.
Residents now are suspicious of the authorities
after dozens arrested in connection to the bombing
were reported to have been members of the police and
other security forces. Insurgents have infiltrated
the Iraqi National Guard, army and police in other
parts of the country, too.
“My son wanted to become a policeman to protect the
people but the police killed him,” said Abdullahr.
An Erbil security official declined to reveal
details of the arrests.
"A big number of people have been arrested who had a
hand in the bombing,” he said. “Among those detained
were university teachers and students and some
officials in the Erbil security apparatus."
A ministry of interior official said he could not
comment because “we are continuing to arrest the
criminals and we cannot reveal the names of anyone
until they are al caught”.
Erbil residents said the arrests of security
officials made them even more worried about possible
future attacks.
Sardar Ibrahim Yousif, 20, who was injured in the
bombing of the KDP office, blamed the security
forces for the blast, but also said residents had to
take some responsibility because, he said, they
don’t cooperate with government authorities in
keeping the city safe.
“The security apparatuses are negligent to some
extent,” he said. “ But Erbil people also have a
hand in this bombing."
Some residents wonder why Erbil, the capital of the
KDP-controlled western region of Kurdistan, has been
hit by bombings while Sulaimaniyah, the main city in
the PUK-dominated eastern region, has been
relatively unscathed.
One theory is that officials Sulaimaniyah are more
inclined to act on information given them by
ordinary members of the public.
“The security in Sulaimaniyah is strong and people
cooperate with the security forces and government,
unlike in Erbil,” said Khidir Muhammed, 47, a taxi
driver. “If you tell an Erbil police officer that
you suspect a person or a car, they will ask you how
do you know and they will tell you this is their
job, not the public’s."
Amanj Khalil is an IWPR trainee in Erbil.
www.iwpr.net
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