Kirkuk officials deny displacing Arabs in anti-IS operation
Kirkuk province officials have denied a UN report that internally displaced Sunni Iraqis in the city of Kirkuk have been expelled after the recent attack by the Islamic State, though the governor warns, "They cannot stay here forever."
KIRKUK, Iraq — Flags bearing Shiite slogans such as "Ya Hussein" flutter conspicuously every 20 meters or so on Kirkuk’s Republic Street, in a district filled with government buildings and the blackened facades of hotels attacked during an Oct. 21 assault by over 100 Islamic State (IS) operatives.
The attack left over 100 people dead. Security forces said on Oct. 30 that operations to root out sleeper cells were ongoing.
Officials in the oil-rich Kirkuk, with its Kurdish-majority population located in territory disputed between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, denied to Al-Monitor reports that some Sunni Arab internally displaced persons (IDPs) had been pushed out of the city after the attack.
"’That’s absolutely a lie," Gov. Najmaldin Karim told Al-Monitor in reference to reports of "collective punishment" being inflicted on local Sunni Arabs subsequent to the attack.
