Representatives of the Kakayi religious are calling for the dispatch of military reinforcement to enhance security in their areas in southern Kirkuk’s Daquq district.
The demand was submitted via a memorandum to a delegation from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) during a meeting at Kirkuk governorate’s office on Wednesday August 21
The Kakayis are mostly settled in Daquq’s Topzawa, Ali Saray and Zanqar villages.
Rajab Asi, a Kakayi activist who attended the meeting told KirkukNow that they handed a memorandum to UNAMI asking them “to monitor the security and economic situation in Daquq’s Kakayi-inhabited areas.”
The need to pressure the Iraqi government to send more troops to Daquq was another demand submitted to the UNAMI delegation which “pledged to deliver their demands to the relevant authorities and urge their implementation,” according to Rajab Asi.
Unofficial figures suggest that nearly 50 families, most of them Kakayis, have fled their homes in southern Daquq villages in the past few weeks following a string of armed attacks and bombings.
Saman Ibrahim, member of the Kakayi delegation speaking to KirkukNow, said, “We underlined the situation in the Kakayi-inhabited villages and the fact that our villages are gradually being evacuated.”
“Over 120 families were living in Zanqar village, and now only 6 families have remained for fear of being targeted by the Islamic State and other extremist groups,” he said.
Earlier in July, a staff from UNAMI’s Kirkuk office met with Daquq officials and representatives of the villagers to prepare a report about the security situation in the area.
The issue was also discussed during a meeting of Daquq tribal leaders with Iraqi president Barham Salih, interior minister Yasin Yasri and a number of military commanders earlier this month.
The tribal leaders had warned that all their villages would be abandoned if serious measures were not taken to protect their lives.
Daquq district was a frontline during the war against the Islamic State (IS) group. After the Kurdish Peshmarga forces withdrew from the area on October 16, 2017, security responsibilities fell in the hands of Iraqi federal forces.
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