Iraqi Minister Sacks Babylon Police Chief after Deadly Operation

Members of the Iraqi security forces stand guard during the reopening of the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on October 31, 2020. (Sabah Arar/AFP)
Members of the Iraqi security forces stand guard during the reopening of the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on October 31, 2020. (Sabah Arar/AFP)
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Iraqi Minister Sacks Babylon Police Chief after Deadly Operation

Members of the Iraqi security forces stand guard during the reopening of the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on October 31, 2020. (Sabah Arar/AFP)
Members of the Iraqi security forces stand guard during the reopening of the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on October 31, 2020. (Sabah Arar/AFP)

Iraq's interior minister dismissed Babylon province's police chief on Friday and several officers were called for questioning following an operation that reportedly led to the deaths of 20 members of the same family.

The operation, details of which remain unclear, took place Thursday when rapid intervention units and intelligence forces sought to storm a house in the village of Al-Rashayed in the central Iraqi province.

In a brief initial statement, security forces said they had "pursued two individuals accused of terrorism" who "opened fire indiscriminately" once surrounded.

An investigation was opened "after the discovery of a number of dead bodies of citizens in a house", the statement added.

On Friday, Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanemi travelled to Al-Rashayed where he sacked the police chief and announced the formation of a commission to investigate "the unit that carried out the operation,” AFP reported.

The official Iraqi News Agency gave a death toll of 20 civilians from the same family, and said that the owner of the property had opened fire and "refused to surrender".

A separate statement from the security forces said a "number of officers and individuals" had been called in for questioning in connection with the incident, without providing details on their identities.

Interior ministry official Saad Maan posted a video of the premises on Twitter, showing a house with a blackened facade and gutted doors and windows.

He denounced a "crime on all levels", without identifying those to blame, and said the investigation was ongoing to "understand all the circumstances of the incident".

On Thursday evening, security sources and media outlets had suggested a suspect linked with ISIS or drug trafficking rings had been involved.



Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

 Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
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Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

 Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)

In the southern Lebanon border villages of Bint Jbeil and Ainata, where fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters took place, rescuers used excavators began searching on Wednesday for bodies under the rubble.

A woman in Ainata wrapped in black cried as she held a portrait her grandson, a Hezbollah fighter, who was killed in the fighting, as she waits for rescuers to recover his body from a destroyed home.

The smell of death filled the air and several dead bodies could be seen inside houses and between trees. In the town of Kfar Hammam, rescuers recovered four bodies, according to Lebanese state media.

Meanwhile, families and politicians visited the graves of Hezbollah fighters buried in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek region.

Families with tears in their eyes paid respects to the dead and celebratory gunshots could be heard in the background Wednesday, the first day of a ceasefire between the group and Israel.

“The resistance (Hezbollah) will stay to defend Lebanon,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mokdad told reporters while visiting the graves. “We tell the enemy that the martyrs thwarted their plans for the Middle East.”

Several other Hezbollah members of parliament were present.