ERBIL — More than 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDP) are still living in Kurdistan Region’s Garmiyan Administration, and reluctant to return to their homes in Tuz Khurmatu under the rule of Shi’ite militias of Hashd al-Shaabi, an official said.

Last year in October, the Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi overran Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and other disputed Kurdish territories to push the Peshmerga forces out of the region. The offensives led to a humanitarian crisis which left hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians displaced.

Bestun Zhallayi, head of Humanitarian Affairs at the Garmiyan Administration, told BasNews that many of the IDPs fear returning to their homes under the rule of Baghdad as they are members of Kurdistan Peshmerga forces.

There are also people among the IDPs whose homes, shops or factories are burned down by the militias, and they have no motivation to return to their hometown.

Bas News