Iraq seeks 20 suspects in Sadr City arms depot explosion

The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council announced today the issuance of 20 arrest warrants against those accused of last week’s explosion in Sadr City, east of Baghdad, which killed 20 civilians.

The preliminary investigation revealed that equipment containing rockets and heavy weapons stored inside a school in a residential neighbourhood of the city, exploded last Wednesday, killing 20 civilians and injuring more than 70 and caused the displacement of scores of civilians after their homes were destroyed, according to security and medical sources.

“The competent courts have taken appropriate legal action in connection with the explosion of the arms piles in Sadr City,” the spokesman of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Abdul Sattar Birqdar, said in a statement. “Arrest warrants were issued against 20 defendants.”

“The Supreme Judicial Council calls on all parties not to interfere in the work of the judiciary,” he added.

It is expected that the government will begin to remove disarm Shia factions within the Popular Mobilisation Forces now that Daesh has been defeated.

READ: Iraqi cleric Sadr announces disarmament initiative