Kurdistan President Warns of “Increasing Threats” Following Kirkuk Bombing
Kurdistan President Warns of “Increasing Threats” Following Kirkuk Bombing
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region warned of “increasing threats that may have terrible consequences,” just days after a series of bomb attacks in Kirkuk killed dozens and wounded scores.
“All sides should be careful lest certain people or extremist groups hijack and attack people’s legitimate demand for their rights,” said Barzani referring to a wave of anti-government protests across Iraq’s Sunni provinces.
Iraq’s large Sunni minority has been enraged by the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, staging protests since late December that accuse the government of marginalizing Sunni provinces and calling for the release of detainees, especially women.
“It is the duty of the federal government to have a wise initiative for solving the problems,” said Barzani. “But the government makes threats and complicates the situation instead.”
The protests began after security forces raided the home and office of Sunni Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi in December and arrested a dozen of his bodyguards.
Again last week, Issawi survived an assassination attempt when a bomb attacked his convoy of vehicles in the city of Fallujah. A day later in the same city, a suicide bomber killed prominent Sunni MP Eifan Saadoun.
The attacks in Kirkuk, an energy-rich province that is claimed by both the Kurds and the central government, followed weeks of tensions. Besides grappling with the Sunni protests, Maliki’s government has been locked in a dangerous military stand-off with the Kurdistan Region since November, when he deployed troops to unilaterally take over security in Kirkuk, and the Kurds countered by sending in thousands of their own Peshmarga forces.
In response to the protests, Maliki indicated in a statement earlier this month that he was losing patience with the demonstrations and warned that the protests were providing an opportunity for “the enemies of the political process, the armed terrorist groups and the remnants of the former regime" to infiltrate the demonstrations and threaten national unity.
“Ending the tensions needs the correction of the current political process and adherence to the constitution for a free life that the Iraqi people deserve,” Barzani said.
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