|
Iraqi Kurdish forces angered by pressure
to pull back
27.8.2008
|
|
|
August
27, 2008
DIYALA, Iraq,—, Kurdish troops,
Peshmerga, say they lost many men trying to bring
security to a volatile, ethnically mixed part of
Iraq only to be ordered out by the central
government.
A brigade of about 2,000 Kurdish Peshmerga forces
withdraw on Monday from some towns in
Diyala province they had been patrolling and moved
to a part of the province bordering the largely
autonomous enclave of Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdish
forces was located in Diyala to protect the Kurdish civilians
in the district.
Diyala province, a restive part of Iraq outside the
Kurdish autonomous zone but home to many Kurds.
They had come under pressure from the central
government, which is seeking to tighten its grip on
Diyala and other parts of northern Iraq where Arabs
and Kurds live side by side.
Some Arabs and Turkmen accuse the Kurds of trying to
extend their influence into areas of Iraq beyond
their autonomous homeland.
Dozens of Kurdish soldiers looked tired and
pale-faced after hours spent marching some 40 km (24
miles) to an old castle in the town of Maydan,www.ekurd.net
after leaving the town
of Qarah Tappah to be replaced with regular Iraqi
army and police units.
Some slept on the few available bunk beds, others
cleaned their AK47s and machineguns or propped up
mortar tubes.
"We were fighting terrorism and our goal was to
bring stability," said the brigade commander,
Brigadier-General Nadhim Najim Ahmed, as he sat in
his office in the castle wearing a traditional
Kurdish robe with a thick turban.
"We gave numbers of martyrs to get this goal. Now we
are afraid that Kurds could be targets for revenge
attacks by the terrorists," he added.
"During the period we served there, we did not
discriminate between people as Arabs, Kurds and
Turkmen."
Diyala province, home to Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs,
Kurds and Turkmen, has become as flashpoint for
ongoing violence as the rest of Iraq grows more
stable.
Some Peshmerga felt their contribution to helping
tackle that violence had gone unheeded.
"During our deployment there, in spite of the
serious threats,www.ekurd.net
we were happy because we
felt we had secured the lives of people in these
areas," said Shakhwan Hussain, a non-commissioned
officer in the brigade.
The Iraqi government was not available to comment
but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pledged to put
Iraq's security firmly in the hands of the central
authority, saying only the Iraqi military and police
have the right to bear arms in Iraq.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 