UN concerned about shelling in ethnically-mixed Iraqi town

The United Nations human rights office is seriously concerned about the shelling of residential areas in Iraq’s northern town of Tuz Khurmatu in which civilians were killed, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.

It was not clear who was doing the shelling, which took place on December 9 and 12 and came from the mountains overlooking the area, the spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, told a regular UN briefing in Geneva:

Iraqi forces are still working to discover the exact locations from which the shelling has come and the identity of those responsible

The shelling of the ethnically-mixed town happened after many of its Kurdish population was displaced following clashes with Turkmen paramilitary groups.

Read: ‘Peshmerga left 95% of Iraq’s disputed areas’

Tuz Khurmatu is made up of Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs located 75 km (47 miles) south of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. It came under the full control of Iraqi government forces and mostly Iran-backed Shi’ite paramilitaries known as Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in October.

It had been under control of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters since 2014.

Clashes broke out between the Peshmerga and Turkmen PMF units in recent weeks, Throssell said, leaving an unconfirmed number of deaths from both groups.

UN human rights officers visited the town on December 7 and 14 to investigate reports of the burning of homes and looting of businesses and found some 150 premises burned.

Thousands of residents, mainly Kurds, left for the KRG, and many have not returned.

Read: Top Iraqi Shia cleric says paramilitaries should be part of state security bodies