SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s judicial council said on Monday “false intelligence” and a family dispute were the causes behind a deadly operation that killed 20 people from the same family last week.
The security forces launched an operation to arrest a wanted man in al-Rashayed village in Babil province on Thursday.
The suspect opened fire indiscriminately after the security forces surrounded him, authorities said. Twenty people were killed in the incident.
In a statement, the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council said the intelligence was provided by an informant who had “family disputes” with one of the victims, according to the state news agency INA.
The informant, nine officers and three agents were being investigated over the incident. An investigating judge heard the statements of the 13 men, INA reported.
“The questioning revealed that the cause of the tragedy was false intelligence provided by the nephew and son-in-law of one of the victims, because of family disputes,” the judicial council’s statement said.
The informant gave “false information to the security services indicating the presence of two wanted terrorists in the victims’ house”, it said.
Arrest warrants were issued for four other suspects, it added.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said all the parties who were responsible for the massacre and misinformation were “now in the grip of justice”.
“We will not tolerate any failure within the security system,” Kadhimi said. “Preserving the blood of innocents is our national duty.”
Interior minister Othman al-Ghanmi sacked Babil province’s police chef on Friday after visiting the village.
He also ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the unit that carried out the operation.
Al-Ahad News cited a security source as saying on Sunday that a unit of Iraq’s SWAT forces was detained over the incident.
