SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Sinjar’s self-administration council threatened to respond to any move by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) if it sends armed forces to the district.
In a statement, the self-administration council said the KDP had gathered a large number of armed forces, planning to enter the district.
“The KDP wants to shed the blood of Yazidis, not election campaign,” it said late on Sunday, one day after it warned of the risk of sending forces to Sinjar.
“It wants to reopen its Branch 17” in the district, the self-administration council added.
The council also said it would respond to any attack against the Yazidi people, describing the KDP’s branch 17 as a “center for torture and murdering Yazidi boys and girls”.
Sinjar, overran by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in 2014, is now under the control of the Iraqi security forces, according to authorities in Baghdad.
On Saturday, the Sinjar’s self-administration council warned of the risk of sending forces to the district by the KDP, accusing it of intending to create “chaos”.
Iraqi military officials in the past months have said that there were no other armed groups in Sinjar except for the federal forces.
In October 2020, the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached an agreement to normalize the governance and security situation in Sinjar.
Under the deal, all armed groups should leave Sinjar and allow the Iraqi security forces to take control of the district.
However, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials says the deal have not been implemented.
KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the armed groups which were supposed to leave the district under the agreement were still present there.
