BAGHDAD — Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) is stirring up more controversy, this time over an order to integrate the primarily Shiite force with fighters from the Ninevah Guard, a mainly Sunni group.

The Ninevah Guard, previously known as the National Mobilization Forces, had been banned from participating in the battle of Mosul, and a former leader, Atheel al-Nujaifi, is a wanted man. Yet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gave the order to merge the groups on Dec. 31.

Abdul Rahman Alloizi, a member of the Sunni Iraqi Forces Alliance and the parliament member for Ninevah province, said Jan. 16 that integrating the Ninevah Guard into the PMU is part of Iraq's efforts to appease Turkey. A week after the decision was announced, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim visited Baghdad and met with Abadi, President Fuad Massum and parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri.

The Ninevah Guard consists of volunteers who served previously as officers or soldiers in the Iraqi army and who were trained by Turkish troops in a camp on the outskirts of Mosul that was established after the Islamic State (IS) took over the city in June 2014.