More Kurdish farmlands set on fire in Iraq’s Kirkuk

2019-06-06 00:00:00 - From: Iraq News

KIRKUK,— Farmlands of Kurdish villagers was set on fire again in Zanqar village in Daquq districts in Kirkuk.

Over 150 dunmas (37.0658 acres) of crop lands belonging to the Kurdish farmers were torched in Kakayi populated Zanqar village.

“The crop land of a Kurdish farmer was torched and the fire proliferated to several other farmlands in the village,” NRT TV reported.

Farmers’ crop field was set on fire in a village in Sinjar on Tuesday, an official said.

Acting Sinjar mayor Saad Hamid said that the fire took place near Warde village in Sinjar’s sub-district of

Grd Azer on Tuesday afternoon.

Up to 1,200 dunams of farmlands (296.5 acres) were burned due to the fire, according to the official.

This is the fourth time this that the farmers’ crop fields are burned in Sinjar.

Over the last several weeks, Hundreds of hectares of agricultural lands were also burned by suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Kirkuk province and Makhmour and Khanaqin districts.

Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate said last week that there were 189 firing circumstances during May 5-30.

“1586.6 hectares of farmlands were torched and 41171.8 hectares were preserved,” the statement read.

Kurdish forces take full control of Kirkuk after the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq in 2014 and the withdrawal of Iraqi army form the province and some other northern region of the state, including second-biggest city of Mosul.

In October 2017 following the Barzani’s controversial referendum the Iraqi federal forces take over most of the disputed areas including Kirkuk claimed by Baghdad and Erbil.

The Kurds are seeking to integrate Kirkuk province into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region claiming it to be historically a Kurdish city, but Iraq’s central government opposes this. The population is a mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and Turkmen.

The Arabs and Turkmen do not want to see the province under permanent Kurdish control.

Iraq News Now