AFP, Baghdad :
Iraqi troops and militia looted and burned homes and destroyed villages after breaking the Islamic State group’s months-long siege of a Turkmen town last August, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
“Following the operations to end the Amerli siege, pro-government militias and volunteer fighters as well as Iraqi security forces raided Sunni villages and neighbourhoods around Amerli in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces,” the New York-based group said in a report.
“During the raids, militiamen, volunteer fighters and Iraqi security forces looted possessions of civilians who fled fighting during the onslaught on Amerli, burned homes and businesses of the villages’ Sunni residents,” HRW said.
They also “used explosives and heavy equipment to destroy individual buildings or entire villages,” it added.
HRW said that many of the villages targeted in the raids were ones that IS jihadists had either passed through or used as bases to attack Amerli.
“Iraq can’t win the fight against (IS) atrocities with attacks on civilians that violate the laws of war and fly in the face of human decency,” its deputy Middle East and North Africa director, Joe Stork, said.
“Militia abuses are wreaking havoc among some of Iraq’s most vulnerable people and exacerbating sectarian hostilities.”
IS spearheaded an offensive last June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, sweeping security forces aside.
Reeling from the assault, Baghdad turned to Popular Mobilisation units-paramilitary forces that are dominated by pre-existing Shiite militias.
The units have played a key role in the fight to drive IS back, but relying on such groups further entrenches them in Iraq, giving them an expanded power base that will be difficult to dislodge.
Meanwhile, the United States is concerned about how heavy Iranian weaponry might be used inside Iraq, including as Iran-backed militia help the offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants, a US official said on Tuesday.
Reuters has previously reported on the alleged presence of Iranian rockets inside Iraq. US officials declined to comment on specific Iranian weaponry after The New York Times reported it might include Fajr-5 artillery rockets and Fateh-110 missiles.
Still, the US official said the potential use of heavy Iranian weaponry would raise questions about the risk of civilian casualties. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted extensive US efforts to ensure precision in its strikes.
“Our primary concern is how any weapons – artillery, rockets or other systems – are employed and the potential for civilian casualties or collateral damage,” a second US official said, declining to comment specifically on Iranian weapons.
The United States has warned that civilian casualties or other abuses by Iraqi forces and Shi’ite militia against Sunni Iraqis could inflame sectarian tensions, which helped pave the way for Islamic State’s advance through Iraq last summer.
US officials are watching with concern as the Iraqi militia and regular forces stage an offensive to retake Tikrit, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s home city.
At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki noted that the United States has previously acknowledged Iran’s provision of supplies like arms, ammunition and aircraft to forces in Iraq.
“We continue to emphasize that it’s important that actions don’t raise … sectarian tensions,” Psaki said, without delving into specifics on Iranian weaponry.
If Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government retook Tikrit it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give the government momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign: recapturing Mosul, the largest city in the north.
Iraqi troops and militia looted and burned homes and destroyed villages after breaking the Islamic State group’s months-long siege of a Turkmen town last August, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
“Following the operations to end the Amerli siege, pro-government militias and volunteer fighters as well as Iraqi security forces raided Sunni villages and neighbourhoods around Amerli in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces,” the New York-based group said in a report.
“During the raids, militiamen, volunteer fighters and Iraqi security forces looted possessions of civilians who fled fighting during the onslaught on Amerli, burned homes and businesses of the villages’ Sunni residents,” HRW said.
They also “used explosives and heavy equipment to destroy individual buildings or entire villages,” it added.
HRW said that many of the villages targeted in the raids were ones that IS jihadists had either passed through or used as bases to attack Amerli.
“Iraq can’t win the fight against (IS) atrocities with attacks on civilians that violate the laws of war and fly in the face of human decency,” its deputy Middle East and North Africa director, Joe Stork, said.
“Militia abuses are wreaking havoc among some of Iraq’s most vulnerable people and exacerbating sectarian hostilities.”
IS spearheaded an offensive last June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, sweeping security forces aside.
Reeling from the assault, Baghdad turned to Popular Mobilisation units-paramilitary forces that are dominated by pre-existing Shiite militias.
The units have played a key role in the fight to drive IS back, but relying on such groups further entrenches them in Iraq, giving them an expanded power base that will be difficult to dislodge.
Meanwhile, the United States is concerned about how heavy Iranian weaponry might be used inside Iraq, including as Iran-backed militia help the offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants, a US official said on Tuesday.
Reuters has previously reported on the alleged presence of Iranian rockets inside Iraq. US officials declined to comment on specific Iranian weaponry after The New York Times reported it might include Fajr-5 artillery rockets and Fateh-110 missiles.
Still, the US official said the potential use of heavy Iranian weaponry would raise questions about the risk of civilian casualties. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted extensive US efforts to ensure precision in its strikes.
“Our primary concern is how any weapons – artillery, rockets or other systems – are employed and the potential for civilian casualties or collateral damage,” a second US official said, declining to comment specifically on Iranian weapons.
The United States has warned that civilian casualties or other abuses by Iraqi forces and Shi’ite militia against Sunni Iraqis could inflame sectarian tensions, which helped pave the way for Islamic State’s advance through Iraq last summer.
US officials are watching with concern as the Iraqi militia and regular forces stage an offensive to retake Tikrit, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s home city.
At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki noted that the United States has previously acknowledged Iran’s provision of supplies like arms, ammunition and aircraft to forces in Iraq.
“We continue to emphasize that it’s important that actions don’t raise … sectarian tensions,” Psaki said, without delving into specifics on Iranian weaponry.
If Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government retook Tikrit it would be the first city clawed back from the Sunni insurgents and would give the government momentum in the next, pivotal stage of the campaign: recapturing Mosul, the largest city in the north.
