According to witnesses who spoke to Rudaw inside Khurmatu, "the young boy was killed by a Hashd al-Shaabi sniper."
Negotiations to end the violence in the disputed territory are underway between Kurdish and Shiite factions, but Shiite militias continue arresting civilians, according to the town's Kurdish administration.
Many shops are closed and districts are empty, according to security sources inside Khurmatu. During the last four days at least seven Kurdish non-combatants were killed, some 20 injured and seven others tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
by the Shiite militia.
"Sixty-nine Kurdish people were taken captive by the Hashd al-Shaabi, 59 of them are rescued so far and 10 are still left," Khurmatu Mayor Shalal Abdul told Rudaw on Sunday.
A Kurdish official told Rudaw Sunday that the Hashd al-Shaabi had arrived in the town of Saadia with heavy weapons and intended to enter by force the Kurdish-controlled town of Jalawla.
Jalawla and Saadia, together with Khurmatu, are located in Diyala province and have been heavily disputed areas between Kurdish and pro-central government Shiite forces even as both factions are fighting the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
Fighting broke out on Friday when a militia convoy allegedly refused to stop at a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces, resulting in a firefight that left three Peshmerga and two Shiite faceless myrmidons dead.
On Friday controversial Shiite holy man
Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
called on Kurdistan region President Masoud Barzani, Iraqi President Fuad Masum and Shiite militia leader Hadi al-Amiri to work towards ending the conflict between the Peshmerga and Hashd al-Shaabi in Diyala.