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Kirkuk
- The Iraqi Ministry of Finance has ordered the Kirkuk administration to suspend the recruitment process of one thousand people under the Development and Food Security Law budget. The decision came after several protests against the hiring process, which blatantly discriminated against the Kurdish population, marginalizing religious beliefs such as Kakaies.
- On September 10, the entire staff and head of al Taqaddum Party’s Kirkuk branch resigned. In a resignation statement, party members said they “were not able to achieve” people’s demands within the party framework.” The statement also blamed the party for “marginalizing Kirkuk,” and it did not take it as a priority. Al Taqaddum Party is led by Speaker Mohammed al Halbousi, a Sunni Iraqi leader.
- On September 15, three Da’esh mortars targeted the shrine of Imam Zain al Abdin in the Daquq district. The attack coincided with the Shi’ite religious ceremony known as the Arba’een Pilgrimage. One of the mortars landed near a cemetery next to the shrine. Following the attack, the Iraqi artillery and warplanes bombed locations in the Rokhana river without any outcomes reported. Following the increase in Da’esh attacks, Iraqi General Abdul Amir Yarlla, Chief of the Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces, arrived in Kirkuk to discuss the security plans with security officials. For more than a year, Baghdad and Erbil agreed to deploy joint forces in the disputed territories due to the emergence of Da’esh. However, the Iraqi defense ministry is yet to implement the agreement despite the deterioration of the security in the province.
- On September 14, the 22nd Brigade of the Peshmerga Forces conducted an intensive security operation between Kirkuk and Chamchamal to search for the remains of a missing Kurdish man named Aram Hadi. Hadi and his friend Ali Reza were kidnapped by ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists near Jabal Bawr village two weeks ago. The security forces found Reza’s remains earlier, but Hadi remained missing. The operation began in the Khalo Baziani villages and continued to the Shirin Dam near the Kirkuk-Laylan road. The Peshmerga found traces of Da’esh terrorists, but Hadi remains missing. Recently, Da’esh terrorists have expanded terror activities to the areas between Kirkuk and Sulaiamnayah from the north and south axes, breaching the security beltway set up by the federal government.
Khanaqin
- According to Khanaqin police, 15,000 pilgrims have recently entered Iraq via al Munthrya border crossing. Pilgrims are visiting the city of Karbala to participate in a Shi’ite religious ceremony known as the Arba’een Pilgrimage. The ceremony also postponed a joint military operation between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army near Khanaqin after the increase in Da’esh attacks.
- Near the Hamrin mountains, an airstrike killed a Da’esh leader named Wissam Ali Hamad responsible for kidnapping and slaughtering Colonel Yasser al Jwarni, passport director of the Adhamiyah passport department.
Makhmour
- The Turkish Anadolu Agency said two members of the Makhmour Refugee Camp were kidnapped by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). The report released the names of the abducted refugees, Khatib Gonay and Aya Ahmad, accused of membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by MIT.
Shingal (Sinjar)
- A Turkish drone struck a vehicle and killed three members of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) in the Shingal (Sinjar) District’s al Shemal subdistrict on Saturday.
- The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) freed two Yazidi women inside the camp who were abducted during the Yazidi Genocide in 2014. The Two women, Sawsan Hassan Haider, 24, and Wafa Ali Abbas, 21, were handed over to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
- The Sinjar Education Department has announced that it will open two Kurdish “accelerated schools” for the survivors of the Genocide who are over ten years old. The two schools will be opened in two refugee camps in Duhok province for the 2022-2023 academic year.