"As of this afternoon, the (paramilitaries) started to leave the city towards the surrounding areas outside," said Ahmed al-Kraim, the head of the council of Tikrit and its province Salahuddin.
"The looting and vandalism against residents' properties stopped today and things are getting better."
The decision for the paramilitaries to exit came after a meeting between Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, a Shi'ite Islamist, and officials from Salahuddin province. Tikrit was retaken from Islamic State militants on Wednesday.
[jpost.com by Reuters]
4/4/15
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Looting broke out in Tikrit hours after ISIS forces were driven out, a senior Iraqi security official in the city told CNN...
ReplyDeleteThe official said he witnessed at least 20 houses set on fire and more than 50 shops looted, damaged or burned. Security forces could not stop trucks loaded with looted goods from fleeing, he said.
"The city was out of control," he said. "No plans were made for what to do with the city after it was liberated from ISIS."
Iraqi forces, aided by Shiite militiamen, took control of the northern city Wednesday. Much of Tikrit's population is Sunni Muslim and officials feared reprisals by the Shite militias. The militias -- called al Hashed al Shabi or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) -- were trained, equipped and are led by Iranian military advisers.
The senior Iraqi security official accused members of the PMU, as well as a few individuals from Iraq's own security forces, of being responsible for the destruction and looting.
An investigative committee formed by the Iraqi Federal Police Intelligence is "now in Tikrit checking all these violations and gathering information to submit to the proper authorities," the official said...............http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/04/middleeast/iraq-tikrit-looting/index.html