(Baghdad) The Iraqi interior minister on Friday sacked the police chief in Babylon province and several officers were arrested, the day after an operation in still murky circumstances which resulted in the death of 20 people. the same family.
The tragedy took place Thursday in the village of al-Rachayed, in the central province of Babylon, when units of the rapid intervention forces (special forces) and internal intelligence wanted to storm a house.
In a brief first statement, the security forces said they had “pursued two individuals accused of terrorism” who, once surrounded, “fired indiscriminately” at them. The text announced “the opening of an investigation after the discovery of a number of corpses of citizens in a house”.
The state press agency INA evokes a toll of 20 civilians killed, specifying that they are from the same family and that the owner of the premises “opened fire” and “refused to surrender”.
On Friday, Interior Minister Othmane al-Ghanemi, traveling to al-Rachayed, “sacked the provincial police commander after the incident yesterday which resulted in the death of a number of victims “.
The minister also called for the formation of a commission to specifically investigate “the unit that carried out the operation”.
Another press release from the security forces reports arrests targeting “a number of officers and individuals” in connection with this affair, without providing details of their identity.
General Saad Maan, head of communications at the Interior Ministry, posted a video on Twitter from the scene. We see a house with a blackened facade, gutted doors and windows.
Denouncing a “crime at all levels” without pointing the finger at a culprit, General Maan assured that the investigation was continuing to “know all the circumstances of the incident”.
Thursday evening, shortly after the media coverage of this case, security sources and local media mentioned the presence of a suspect who would have links with the jihadists of the Islamic State group or with drug trafficking.