HRW: Shia militias in Iraq committed ‘possible war crimes’

The US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that members of Shia militias, who the Iraqi government has included among its state forces, have abducted and killed scores of Sunni residents in a central Iraq town and demolished Sunni homes, stores, and mosques.

In a report released on Sunday, the organisation said the attacks followed two consecutive bombings at a café in the town of Muqdadiya in Diyala province on 11 January, for which Daesh has claimed responsibility.

Members of two of the dominant militias in Muqdadiya, the Badr Brigades and the League of Righteous forces, responded by attacking Sunnis as well as their homes and mosques, killing at least a dozen people and perhaps many more, the report stated.

“Again civilians are paying the price for Iraq’s failure to rein in the out-of-control militias,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Countries that support Iraqi security forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces should insist that Baghdad bring an end to this deadly abuse.”

“The test for Iraq’s legitimate judicial and security forces will be to bring the people responsible for these heinous attacks to justice in fair and public trials,” Stork said. “Progress on identifying the suspects and handing them over the judiciary should be an important marker for continued military support to Iraqi forces.”