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Shingal (Sinjar)
- On August 3, the eighth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, the Committee for the Investigation of Yazidi Abductees in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) released the statistics of the victims of the Yazidi genocide. According to the statistics, the fate of 2717 kidnapped Yazidis remains unknown, including 1273 females and 1444 males. Moreover, 3,554 abducted Yazidis have been rescued, including 1,207 women and girls, 339 men, and 1,051 children, while 146 have been killed. On August 3, 2014, Da’esh terrorists attacked Sinjar district and committed genocide, inclding kidnapping 6,417 Yazidis, killing hundreds, and displacing thousands of families. Meanwhile, the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nichirvan Barzani, called for the “normalization” of the area. “It is foremost the duty of the federal government in coordination with the KRG to normalize the situation in Shingal and set up a legal and interim administration. Unlawful forces must be disbanded, and local people should be hired to run their affairs.” Said Barzani.
Kirkuk
- On August 4, a force of the 8thDivision of the Iraqi army cut off the electricity on the Kurdish village of Kabala in the Sargaran district. According to villagers, the incident occurred after a setter Arab coordinated with two Iraqi officers as he attempted to occupy more Kurdish lands. Kurdish villages in Sargaran have been the target of the Arab settlers since October 16, 2017.
- On August 4, the Mosul Military Court held its final hearing on the trial of 14 Kurdish police officers in Kirkuk accused of “participation” in the Kurdish Independence Refendamdum in 2017. The court rejected the charges against the Kurdish officers. The case has been going on for five years and the court today dismissed the complaint because there was not enough evidence against the officers. Kirkuk does not have its military court, but a committee from the Mosul military Court visits Kirkuk twice a week to process lawsuits against security officers.
- The security forces announced the arrest of an ISIS (Da’esh) cell in the Zab subdistrict consisting of four terrorists.
- On August 1, Muqtada al Sadr supporters and the Iranian-backed Coordination Framework announced demonstrations against each other. Both sides marked the square in front of the old governorates, the location for their demonstrations. However, the commander of military operations in Kirkuk deployed heavy security forces in the area and warned that they would not allow demonstrations. After the deployment of military forces, the representative of al Sadr in Kirkuk, Ra’ad al Sakhri, canceled the demonstration and called on his supporters to go to Diyala province to participate in the demonstration of the Sadrists in the city.
- According to the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO), the revenue from Kirkuk oil exports in July was 256,986,101 US dollars. 2,344,536 barrels were exported from Kirkuk oil fields through Cihan port in July, grossing 249,693,084 US dollars for 106.50 per barrel. Meanwhile, 75,419 barrels were sold to Jordan, with a revenue of $7,293,017 and a price of $96.70 per barrel.
Khanaqin
- On August 1, the security forces blew up fifteen tons of remains of the fireworks factory. On July 23, an explosion inside a warehouse of a fireworks factory in Khanaqin killed two workers and injured three others, two of whom later died. The security forces also arrested the factory owner since he established his factory illegally without official permits. Separately, a Da’esh IED killed two children in the Arab Faraj village in the Jalawla district.
Tuz Khurmatu
- On July 31, owners of privately operated generators demonstrated against the failure to provide gasoline at subsidized rates and threatened not to stop supplying electricity. According to the decision of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kazemi, for the months of June, July, August, and September, the government will provide gasoline at subsidized rates to generators to provide electricity to citizens at low prices. The protesters said the allocated gasoline for the town was “stolen” by the Saladin administration, and they did not receive their shares.
- According to several media reports, since August 1, all directors of offices and administrative units in Khurmatu have been banned from making press statements on government affairs. The governor of Saladin ordered the department to notify the provincial administration and obtain approval. Riaz Jaber, director of information in Saladin province, confirmed the information and said the decision aims to prevent “chaos.”
- On August 2, an IED inside the Khurmatu water project exploded, injuring three teens swimming in the water.