Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 15 September 2017
Iraq dismisses Kirkuk governor amid dispute with Kurds

By EMAD MATTI wounding 83, according ment has rejected the polls favor, the two lawmakers anti-Islamic State coalition
QASSIM ZAHRA to provincial Gov. Yahya as unconstitutional and il- said. calling on Kurdish leaders in
Associated Press al-Nassiri. The Islamic State legal. The governor has the right Iraq to halt the referendum
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s group, through its Amaq Lawmaker Hussein al-Maliki to appeal the decision, al- in favor of an alternative.
parliament on Thursday news agency, claimed re- said parliament voted to Karboli added. McGurk said at a news
voted to dismiss the Kurdish sponsibility. dismiss Kirkuk Gov. Najmid- Shortly after the session, the conference in Irbil that
governor of the ethnically Iraq’s Kurds plan to hold din Karim based on consul- Kirkuk governor rejected Brussels, Washington, Paris,
mixed Kirkuk province, in the vote on Sept. 25 in tations with Prime Minister the parliament decision in London and Baghdad had
a move that could esca- three governorates that Haider al-Abadi. a statement, describing it cooperatively developed
late tensions ahead of a make up their autonomous Mohammed al-Karboli, an- as “invalid” and insisting an alternative plan to the
planned Kurdish referen- region as well as disputed other Arab lawmaker, said that he’ll stay in office. contentious referendum.
dum on independence. areas like Kirkuk that are Karim “threatens the coun- “The parliament decision ... While providing no details
To the south of Baghdad, controlled by Kurdish forces try’s unity and civil peace doesn’t mean anything to on the alternative, he said
meanwhile, militants at- but claimed by Baghdad. in Kirkuk.” Kirkuk and its governor who he has presented it to Kurd-
tacked a checkpoint and Late last month, Kirkuk’s All Kurdish members boy- is still in office,” said the ish leaders.
nearby restaurant in south- provincial council voted cotted Thursday’s session, statement. “There’s an alternative
ern Thi Qar province, kill- to take part in the referen- while 187 mainly Arab and Brett McGurk, U.S. special on the table. It’s decision
ing at least 60 people and dum. Iraq’s central govern- Turkmen legislators voted in presidential envoy to the time,” he said.q
Russian navy fires cruise missiles into eastern Syria

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA bardment on three IS-held
PHILIP ISSA towns and villages along
Associated Press the valley — far more than
ABOARD THE ADMIRAL ES- could be accounted for by
SEN (AP) — Russia fired seven missiles — including
a salvo of cruise missiles an attack on the national
from the Mediterranean hospital in the IS stronghold
on Thursday and said they of al-Mayadeen, where
struck Islamic State targets six civilians were reported
in eastern Syria. Activists killed.
there said at least 20 civil- Abou Layla put the toll at
ians were killed in what 20 killed across the prov-
they described a “fanati- ince. He added that the
cal” bombardment — provincial capital, also
blaming some of it on Rus- called Deir el-Zour, suffered
sia and some on the United heavy airstrikes as well.
States. Russian-backed pro-gov-
It was not clear whether ernment forces have been
there was a connection on the offensive to take
between the Russian mili- back the city after break-
tary strikes and the activ- ing an IS siege there last
ists’ accounts, reflecting week. It was the first time
the challenge of verifying reinforcements were able
the conflicting claims in Russian military policeman guards the passage at the check-point of the de-escalation to reach the city in nearly
the hostile environment of zone near Homs, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Russia fired a salvo of cruise missiles three years.
Syria’s civil war, now in its from the Mediterranean on Thursday and said they struck Islamic State targets in eastern The Britain-based Syrian
seventh year. Syria. Observatory for Human
The seven Kalibr cruise (AP Photo) Rights said at least 39 peo-
missiles, launched from ple were killed and over
the submarines Veliky Defense Ministry said. The are racing to seize terri- But Turkey-based activist 100 wounded in strikes in
Novgorod and Kolpino, province is where forces tory in the jihadist group’s Omar Abou Layla said their the river valley, including
hit IS installations in Deir el- backed separately by shrinking Euphrates River local contacts reported some against hospitals and
Zour province, the Russian Washington and Moscow valley domain. “fanatical” levels of bom- ferry crossings. q
Amnesty decries ‘campaign of burnings’ targeting Rohingya

By JAMEY KEATEN 80 sites were torched in findings released Friday in accounts of villages being tematic pattern of abuse
Associated Press Myanmar’s northern Rakh- Myanmar offer some of the burned from refugees who here.
GENEVA (AP) — ine State since an Aug. 25 most precise evidence that spoke to U.N. agencies, Security forces surround a
Amnesty International says militant attack on a border Rohingya areas were spe- rights groups and journalists village, shoot people flee-
it has turned up evidence post. cifically targeted. in Bangladesh. ing in panic and then torch
of an “orchestrated cam- The U.N. children’s agency The satellite images, con- “The evidence is irrefutable houses to the ground,” she
paign of systematic burn- estimates that as many as tracted by Amnesty from — the Myanmar security said. “In legal terms, these
ings” by Myanmar security 400,000 people have fled satellite providers Deimos forces are setting northern are crimes against human-
forces targeting dozens of to Bangladesh since then. and Planet Labs, and other Rakhine State ablaze in ity.”
Rohingya villages over the Top U.N. officials, including source materials point to a targeted campaign to The International Criminal
last three weeks. Secretary-General Antonio “80 large-scale fires in in- push the Rohingya people Court says crimes against
The human rights group Guterres, have previously habited areas, each mea- out of Myanmar,” said Ti- humanity involve torture,
is releasing a new analy- expressed concerns about suring at least 375 meters rana Hassan, Amnesty In- enslavement, murder or ex-
sis of video, satellite pho- possible “ethnic cleansing” (1,230 feet) in length” since ternational’s crisis response termination of civilians in a
tos, witness accounts and perpetrated against the Aug. 25, the group said. director, in a statement. “widespread and system-
other data that found over Rohingya. But Amnesty’s The data adds to many “There is a clear and sys- atic” way.q