Iraq: Shia militia accused of blowing up Anbar mosques

By Sulaiman al-Qubeisi, Ibrahim Saleh and Khidir Khallat

BAGHDAD (AA) – A tribal chief in Anbar province’s al-Karma city accused al-Hashd al-Shaabi Shia militants of going on a rampage after defeating the Daesh terrorist group in the city.

Moayyed al-Jamili, one of the local figures in al-Karma, told Anadolu Agency on Friday that militants of the pro-government al-Hashd al-Shaabi “blew up two mosques and looted dozens of homes in the two days after expelling Daesh from the city”.

He added that the militia wrote provocative sectarian messages on the walls of homes, including “al-Hashd al-Shaabi is above the people of al-Karma”.

According to al-Jamili, the predominantly Sunni city is now controlled by the Shia militia, citing that the militia has transferred some of the looted furniture and electrical devices to Baghdad.

Last year, international human rights groups had accused al-Hashd al-Shaabi of similar violations, as well as killing civilians when it had retaken control of predominantly Sunni areas in the provinces of Saladin and Diyala.

-Iraq violence-

Seven people were killed Friday by separate explosions and violence in Baghdad, a police spokesman said.

“Four improvised bombs went off in al-Furat and al-Amin neighborhoods, as well as in Abu Gharib and al-Madain districts,” Major Nadir al-Janabi told Anadolu Agency. “[The attacks] left six people dead and 23 others injured. Police forces also found a body of an unidentified man in al-Basatin neighborhood.”

In Mosul, Daesh beheaded a journalist, the Iraq Observatory for Press Freedoms said in a statement.

According to the statement, Talal Abu Iman, who was working as a technician for the Iraqi Media Network in Ninenveh province, had been abducted for many months by the terrorist group.