Farmlands owned by Kurds around Daquq district of southeast Kirkuk were set on fire, a local source told BasNews.
The village of Zanqar, on the outskirt of Daquq, has suffered the greatest damage, said Rajab Kakai, a local activist.
“[Iraqi] security forces prevented the villagers from rushing to control the blazes,” Kakai told BasNews, suspecting the fire incidents to be a plan by the Islamic State (IS) and the non-indigenous Arabs in the area to force the Kurds out.
BasNews previously reported similar fire incidents at wheat farms in two villages of Dibis district, northwest of Kirkuk.
For the second year in a row, Kurdish-owned farmlands in the areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad are suffering huge damages by suspicious fire incidents.
A study by the Iraqi Center for Policy Analysis and Research (ICPAR) estimated that the 2019 fire incidents costed farmers -- majority of whom are Kurds -- approximately 645,951,000,000 IQD (about $542,689,872).