Baghdad - Iraq’s prime minister blamed “criminals” on Saturday for alleged mass executions, following reports that dozens of civilians were killed by Shia militias in Diyala province.“It’s not permitted for people to take the law into their own hands and punish others whenever they want to settle scores,” Haider Al Abadi told a gathering of Sunni and Shia religious and political leaders in Baghdad.
| This is the acid test for Abadi: if he isn't even-handed about this the various Sunni tribes simply won't cooperate with the government to drive out ISIS, and the war will be lost. |
Accusations of such mass atrocities by Shia militias threaten to undermine Abadi’s efforts to win Sunni support to battle Daesh militants, which grabbed large parts of northern and western Iraq last year.
“Those who commit killings and aggressions on sanctities, set fire to people’s homes and assault their souls and properties in areas liberated from Daesh - those (acts) are no less dangerous than terrorism,” Abadi said.
Shia militias took the lead in battling the militants and keeping it from overrunning Baghdad after the Iraqi army nearly collapsed last summer. But their role has been controversial, with Sunni civilians complaining militia elements have been killing and displacing them in what they claim is a policy of collective punishment.
Abadi said those responsible for the Barwanah killings were driving some Sunni Iraqis into the arms of Daesh. “These are outlaw criminals implementing their own agendas to divide Iraqis,” he said.
Other political and religious leaders, including Iraq’s most powerful Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, have echoed Abadi’s call for an investigation, and the United Nations has also supported a probe.
“The government must investigate the alleged attacks on civilians in the areas where operations took place,” Sistani’s aide Ahmed Al Safi said in a sermon.
However, some were sceptical an investigation would be meaningful. “What happened in Barwanah has happened in many areas and it will happen again. Daesh will do it, militias will do it,” said independent Sunni lawmaker Mithal Al Alusi.