By Idris Okuducu
ERBIL, Iraq (AA) – Shia militiamen have advanced to within three kilometers of the Daesh-held majority-Turkmen city of Tal Afar, located some 60 kilometers west of Mosul, according to an Iraqi Turkmen official.
"Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen are advancing towards Tal Afar after having captured the city’s airport from Daesh," Aydin Maarouf, an MP for the Iraqi Turkmen Front in northern Iraq's Kurdish regional parliament, said Friday.
Established in 2014, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias drawn up with the express purpose of fighting Daesh.
According to Maarouf, earlier promises by the Baghdad government that Shia militiamen would not be permitted to enter Tal Afar now appear unlikely to be honored.
"Some 11,000 Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen currently stand only 3 kilometers from the center of Tal Afar and are preparing to storm the city," Maarouf said.
According to the official, the Daesh terrorist group -- which captured Tal Afar in 2014 -- is not allowing civilian residents of the city to leave and has set up checkpoints at all of Tal Afar’s entrances and exits.
He went on to warn that Tal Afar could face "catastrophe" in the event that Shia militiamen entered the city, noting that the city’s Turkmen residents sought protection from the Iraqi army and a U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition.
Some, he added, had even called on the UN to send international observers to the city in hopes of averting a possible massacre.
"We have met with UN officials in Erbil and informed them of the dangerous situation in Tal Afar," he said. "They [UN officials] are aware of the dangers faced by the city’s civilian population."
On Wednesday, the Hashd al-Shaabi announced that its forces had captured Tal Afar’s military airport from Daesh militants.
Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen have been given the task of "liberating" areas southwest of Daesh-held Mosul and now appeared poised to take Tal Afar.
Sunni political figures in Iraq, however, have consistently warned that the Shia militia group’s entrance into Tal Afar could spark sectarian conflict with the city’s Sunni-Muslim residents.