KDP headquarters in Sulaimani attacked by unknown gunmen
KDP party headquarters in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2019. Photo: Rudaw
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Unknown gunmen opened fire on the headquarters of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Sulaimani city in Iraqi Kurdistan in the early hours of Friday morning. No one was hurt during the incident.
Spokesperson of the KDP leadership council in Sulaimani Ata Sheikh Hassan told KDP-affiliated Rudaw media that “Shots from an automobile were fired at the headquarters of the fourth branch of the KDP at 1:30 am on Friday. The shooting inflicted no casualties,”
“Our guards responded to the shooting.”
“The security forces of Sulaimani have a responsibility to protect the security of our headquarters and should respond to what happened,” he said.
Threatening the KDP’s offices in Sulaimani harms the will of the “twelve percent of the people of Sulaimani whose votes we have won”, he added.
The security forces quickly responded and blocked all major roads inside the city in an attempt to arrest the perpetrators. No announcement has been made about any arrests.
Although no definitive link has been made, the timing of the attack suggests that it may have been retaliation for an incident on Thursday where Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Politburo member Mahmoud Sangawi was denied entry to Erbil through a KDP-controlled checkpoint.
The PUK immediately responded to the checkpoint incident in the Smaquli Valley, calling it “illegal” and “unacceptable”.
The Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has ultimate authority over the Region’s checkpoints, subsequently issued a statement insisting it had no hand in the decision to block Sangawi, and described the incident as “unfortunate”.
The KRG has promised to conduct a thorough investigation to “relieve the concerns of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s politburo and prevent the reoccurrence of such events”.
Though by no means routine, several attacks on party headquarters in Sulaimani have occurred in the recent past.
On May 12, 2018, eleven people were injured when the local security forces fired on the headquarters of the Change Movement (Gorran). Two months later, several shots were fired at the New Generation Movement’s headquarters.
Iraqi Kurdistan is not unified region, it is divided politically and geographically between the KDP led by Massoud Barzani and PUK led by the Talabani’s clan.
The Kurdish armed forces so-called Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan are not unified forces, and considered as militias loyal and taking orders directly from the ruling parties of KDP and PUK.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | rudaw.net | nrttv.com
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