ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Members of the Iraqi security committee and parliament have demanded the replacement of Iraqi security forces inside Kirkuk, Khanaqin and other disputed cities with federal police forces, citing security “violations” that have exacerbated violence in those areas.

Iraqi parliament’s security committee visited Kirkuk and Sunni-majority cities in the Iraqi provinces of Kirkuk, Mosul, Diyala, Salahaddin and Anbar in early June.

Upon completion of the trip, a detailed report was sent to the speaker of parliament and Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi at the end of the month, demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Iraqi security forces, to be replaced by federal police forces, Nasir Harki, a member of the security committee, told Rudaw on Friday.

"We had two committees that were working actively to monitor the security situation in the disputed areas, [of Kirkuk and Khanaqin]. Both reported security violations in those areas," Harki said.

Among the “violations,” Harki cited Iraqi security force failure to prevent ISIS attacks on civilians in Khanaqin, as well as attacks on political offices in Kirkuk.

"There are many different forces and units that are operating within Kirkuk and Sunni majority cities which has created huge confusion within those areas…only federal police should remain and operate within the city," he added.

After Islamic State (ISIS) swept across the predominantly Sunni north and west of Iraq, security forces fought alongside Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), otherwise known as Hashd Al-Shaabi), launching huge offensives to take back these areas in 2017. Since then, the PMF and Iraqi security forces have largely been in charge of security.

But a lack of coordination between paramilitias, Iraqi security forces and, in some areas, the Peshmerga, has been blamed for an ISIS resurgence. Violence has increased in Kirkuk and other disputed territories, with car bombings and the arson of agricultural land becoming increasingly commonplace.



Zaki Kamal, head of Hashd al-Shaabi’s Commando Battalion’s 16th al-Qaim unit, told Rudaw that the PMF “will wait for any orders from the Commander-in-chief [Adil Abdul-Mahdi]. If he orders all Hashd units to withdraw from cities, including Kirkuk, we are under his command and we will follow his orders.”

“We [PMF] are not present in the city of Kirkuk, but in its surrounding area,” he added.

Some members of Iraqi parliament from the affected provinces have added their voice to demands made in the report, also suggesting that a new unit be formed of local residents, granting them control over their own cities.

"The Iraqi government needs to open the doors for volunteers from the Sunni majority cities to register their names, in order to hand over the security of those cities to the locals or letting the federal police to be in charge and withdraw all the other forces operating in the Sunni majority cities." Naif Al-Shimary, a member of Iraqi parliament representing Mosul city told Rudaw.

Kirkuk and Khanaqin are both territories disputed by Erbil and Baghdad. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of disputed territories by 2007, but little progress has been made in the implementation of the article which calls for a census and referendum in these areas to establish whether residents want to remain part of federal Iraq or join the Kurdistan Region.

Kirkuk was under Peshmerga control from 2014, when the city was under threat from ISIS. In October 16, 2017, the Iraqi Army and Iran-backed PMF launched an offensive, forcing the Peshmerga out of Kirkuk.

Rudaw