SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Supporters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) torched a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) office in Baghdad on Saturday in response to remarks of the party’s official against Hashid al-Shaabi.
Footage circulated on social media showing dozens of supporters of Hashid al-Shaabi stormed and torched the KDP’s fifth branch building in the center of Baghdad.
The PMF supporters burned the KDP office in response to remarks by member of KDP politburo Hoshyar Zebari saying Hashid al-Shaabi had attacked the Kurdistan Region “just like Daesh did” during a television interview last week. He used an Arabic name for Islamic State.
Hashid al-Shaabi leader Muhammad al-Basri told Shafaaq News that the group condemned the burning of any headquarters but that people could not be controlled.
“The Popular Mobilization Forces has nothing to do with the burning of the KDP headquarters in Baghdad. Those who did that are the supporters of Hashid [al-Shaabi], who reacted with sympathy,” he said.
“Whoever speaks against a security institution … blood of martyrs must expect such reactions,” he added.
A KDP official said the federal government had failed to provide necessary protection for the party’s office in Baghdad.
