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KIRKUK, Aug 23: Three Turkmen were shot dead by police in Iraq’s northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Saturday after they opened fire on a police building during a demonstration, Governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa said.
The killings came a day after fighting between Kurds and Turkmen in Tuz Khurmatu, to the south, left eight dead on both sides and another two Turkmen were killed by US soldiers there.
A Turkmen member of the city’s local council, earlier said three Turkmen, including two policemen, were arrested during the demonstration in Kirkuk.
A member of a Western TV crew on the site confirmed that shots rang out during what began as a peaceful protest.
Three cars, including a police vehicle, were destroyed.
“Elements seeking to destabilize Kirkuk ... exploited the peaceful demonstration and opened fire on the police building without any justification, prompting the police to return fire,” Mr Mustafa said.
“This led to the killing of three of the demonstrators,” he said.
TUZ KHURMATU: Witnesses in Tuz Khurmatu, 60kms south of Kirkuk, said the fighting in the town broke out after unidentified elements fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a religious site revered by Turkmen residents.
A town official said eight people - five Turkmen and three Kurds - were killed in the fighting, which he blamed on elements of the Baath Party.
US soldiers earlier killed two Turkmen during a demonstration in Tuz Khurmatu Friday, a military spokesman said.
Friday’s fighting broke out amid deep tensions in the town between its Kurdish majority and Arab and Turkmen minorities.
Tuz Khurmatu was sealed off by US troops Saturday.
Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald said Fourth Infantry Division soldiers entered the town in response to reports of “Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence”, erupting during what he thought was a Turkmen demonstration.
Upon entering the town, a US military patrol was fired on by a group of four Turkmen, MacDonald said.
The soldiers responded and “killed two of them and slightly wounded two others,” he added.
“Local leaders were able to calm down the situation and disperse the crowd. An investigation is ongoing.”
Tensions have risen in Tuz Khurmatu as the Kurds have demanded that the town be transferred to the Kurdish-majority governorate of Kirkuk from the Arab-majority province of Salahuddin, in which it currently lies.
A Turkmen representative in the Kurdish city of Arbil, Jawdat al Najar, said the clashes in Tuz Khurmatu were provoked by “those who don’t want stability in Iraq”.
Najar, who is president of the Turkmen cultural association, called on Turkmen and Kurds to avoid any further confrontation and find a peaceful settlement.
About 200 Kurds protested outside the Kirkuk government building last Sunday demanding that they be incorporated within the province.
Arab police officers complained last week at a checkpoint outside the town that Kurds were dominating life in Tuz Khurmatu, grabbing all key government positions and businesses since Saddam’s fall. —AFP
