The governorate, representing 75% of the population, and linked to the largest border area with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....in eastern Iraq, is controlled by several militias. The city’s governor, Muthanna al-Tamimi, has been in office since 2015.
Diyala citizens hold the armed militias responsible for the continued security tension in the province and call on the government to limit the security file to the army and police forces only.
Several militias are active in Diyala, led by Badr, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Liwa al-Baqi, and Saraya al-Salam, along with other gangs.
In addition to this large number of militias alongside the regular forces, ISIS cells still record attacks in the governorate from time to time.
SECURITY BREAKDOWN
The last of these incidents in Diyala governorate was the earth-shattering kaboom of a bomb targeting the members of the Bani Tamim clan in the Muqdadiya district on March 6, 2023, killing 8 people and wounding two others.
A former brigadier general in the Iraqi army was killed with silenced weapons, in addition to the liquidation of the most famous cardiologist in the province, Dr. Ahmed Talal al-Madfai, followed by an armed attack on the village of al-Jayalah, during which 5 members of one family were killed, including two women.
"The army officer could not stop those who committed the crime of al-Jayalah, because he feared being arrested or expelled from his position, or even harming his family, and this is evidence that he knows them and that they are supported by political parties," said Raad al-Dahlaki, a member of parliament in Diyala.
Al-Dahlaki explained during a television interview on March 7, 2023, that "uncontrolled weapons are what control security in Diyala, and even the Prime Minister knows them by names and mentioned to me personally full details during a meeting in Baghdad, but why were they not arrested, we put a thousand interrogative marks."
The deputy wondered: "If the criminal is above the law, how is the situation with the official? This is why Diyala has become the main region in igniting or calming the security situation in Iraq. Crime is protected in the city."
He pointed out that "Diyala is witnessing a political struggle to control its capabilities. Within one month, 30 people were killed, and therefore the security situation has collapsed. The ultimate and distant goal of these parties is to take over the administration of the province."
Prime Minister Muhammed Shia’ al-Sudani stressed, during his meeting on March 7, the need to "enforce the law, and that there are no red lines in front of the state’s fulfillment of its responsibilities and duties."
Al-Sudani reaffirmed "the follow-up to the treacherous crime that the province witnessed, in which a doctor was killed, and that whoever committed this will be punished by law soon," stressing that "the blood of citizens is an issue that cannot be compromised or tolerated."