ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been detained by Iraqi intelligence forces in Prde (Altun Kupri), north of Kirkuk, over their alleged involvement in the recent killing of a Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) member, a source told Rudaw on Thursday.
Dozens of Kurdish residents in the town have been arrested and interrogated following the killing of Ali Bahjat Hamid, a member of a Turkmen-dominated PMF brigade, last week, according to information obtained by Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed on the ground.
Fuad Abdulwahid, a Kurdish resident of Prde, said the arrests were arbitrary.
"The situation is honestly very bad, and I hope it gets resolved. You cannot just arrest and detain people randomly. Even during Saddam’s time, it was not like this,” he told Rudaw.
Although most of the Kurdish residents arrested were released after interrogation, the fate of three young men serving in the Peshmerga remains unknown.
A local security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the three Peshmerga remain in detention “because of personal problems they had with the killed PMF member.”
The Peshmerga ministry declined to comment, while Kirkuk police were not available for comment at the time of publication.
Abdulrahman Ahmad, the father of one of the detainees, said security forces went to their home after the shooting and told him that his son “is wanted and under suspicion.” Ahmad subsequently handed his son over to the police.
"My son is a Peshmerga member and was at home that night [of the incident]. We have security camera footage, evidence, and witnesses," Ahmad told Rudaw on Wednesday. "When I called him, he was in the market. Police put him in a vehicle and took him to Kirkuk."
Ahmad said he has not been allowed to visit his son in detention.
Prde falls administratively within Dibis district, northwest of Kirkuk, about 40 kilometers from Kirkuk city and 50 kilometers from Erbil, the Kurdistan Region's capital. It is home to both Kurdish and Turkmen communities and is among the territories disputed between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
