Mutilitated body of civilian found in Khanaqin day after clashes

Jalawla, Diyala 2017 – transport cars waiting for customers – photo: KirkukNow

KirkukNow - Diyala

The mutilated body of a slain civilian was found in Jalawla (Gulala) after a night of ‎armed clashes between gunmen and security forces which led to the killing of one ‎and injuring three.‎

The gunfight took place on 15 January, at around 21:00 in the Salam ‎neighbourhood of Jalawla subdistrict in Khanaqin district. A number of gunmen ‎attempt to raid the home of an employee of Anti-Crime Directorate Office.‎

An officer of the Jalawla Police told KirkukNow: “The unknown armed men were ‎wearing military clothing. They knocked on the door of the house of the Anti-Crime ‎Office employee in the Salam neighbourhood. When he opened the door, they ‎told him that they belonged to the Hashd al-Sha’bi [PMF], but the man didn’t ‎believe them.”‎

The police officer, who wished to remain unnamed, said that a fight broke out ‎after that the gunmen started shooting when the owner of the house tried to ‎prevent them from entering. And that he then started to shoot back.‎

‎“When the owner of the house realized that the gunmen were not from Hashd al-‎Sha’bi, he calls on his relatives and the security forces for help.”‎

His brother and a friend of his, who live nearby, rushed to his assistance and his ‎brother got shot in the clashes, according to the officer.‎

Three members of the security forces arrive at the scene later, who “also got shot ‎after running out of bullets, and one of them died of his injuries later at the ‎hospital.”‎

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Jalawla, Diyala – members of security forces after retaking the town from ISIS – ‎photo: KirkukNow

 

The gunmen later set fire to the car of one of the inured and fled, the officer said.‎

The morning after, security forces found the mutilated corpse of an elderly ‎civilian.‎

A source told KirkukNow that the car of the elderly civilian was also set on fire. “It is ‎suspected that the ISIS militants killed that civilian after the clashes.”‎

The Salam neighbourhood is located in the eastern outskirts of Jalawla, where the ‎terrain is hilly.‎

Hilal abdul-Sattar, nephew of one of the injured, told KirkukNow: “My uncle got injured after rushing to help his friend. He was shot right after he arrived at the ‎location of the incident. Injured, he then managed to take shelter in a house.”‎

Hilal complains that the security forces “did not respond adequately, that’s why ‎the gunmen even managed to set fire to my uncle’s car. This, while there is an ‎Iraqi army base in the neighbourhood only 150 metres away [from the location of ‎the clashes].”‎

‎“The clashes continued for nearly three hours. The gunmen fled after forces from ‎the Tribal Hashd, Jalawla Anti-Crime and the National Security,” Hilal added.‎

ISIS militants took control of Jalawla subdistrict in 2014. By the end of the same ‎year, Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) expelled ISIS ‎and took control. In October 2017 forces from the Federal Government forced ‎Peshmerga out.‎

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