ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The deputy governor of the disputed Kirkuk province said Tuesday that the Iraqi prime minister’s office has formed “an investigative committee” following an operation that resulted in the deaths of two Kurdish teenagers earlier this week. The procedural action was followed by accusations from local authorities and grieving families against the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS), which spearheaded the operation in Pirde (Altun Kupri) north of the province.
“The committee will investigate all officers and soldiers who participated in the Pirde operation that resulted in the killing of two Kurdish youths,” he said in a statement to Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed.
The probe comes after the ICTS announced on Sunday that its forces clashed with "three terrorists from the remnant of ISIS," killing two and arresting a third. However, local accounts painted a vastly different picture of the raid, which claimed the lives of 15-year-old Mohammed Hemin and another local youth, Murad Zana.
"Big mistakes were made that require investigation," Mohammed Samaan, Kirkuk's governor, told Rudaw’s Hiwa Hussamadin earlier on Tuesday.
Samaan told Hussamadin after a meeting with the ICTS that the anti-terror delegation admitted to him that Hemin, like Zana, was killed by mistake during the crossfire.
The ICTS has not issued a public statement admitting the incident yet.
Zana was killed near a local warehouse after being caught in the gunfire. The Iraqi counterterrorism agency made no mention of his death in its official statement.
Public outrage has centered on the death of Hemin, who was working as a cashier at his father's warehouse when the raid occurred.
"A soldier armed with an M4 entered the warehouse during the clashes and fired randomly," said Limo Mohammed, Hemin's aunt, citing friends of the teenager who witnessed the shooting before escaping through a back door.
Following the raid, the ICTS initially branded Hemin as an ISIS militant and posted a photograph to its official Facebook page showing his body, bearing severe head trauma, laid next to a suspected terrorist.
Hemin's family, who had reported him missing and believed he was merely being interrogated, was notified to retrieve his body two days later. Upon arrival, authorities told them the teenager had been identified as an ISIS member.
The teenager's family and local officials fiercely rejected the classification, accusing the security forces of framing him.
"They planted a fake terrorist ID in his pocket," Nouri Mohammed, Hemin's uncle, told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed, demanding an immediate independent inquiry into the ICTS's actions.
Ahmed Kirkuki, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan faction in the Kirkuk provincial council, supported the family's claim.
"They mutilated his body and placed an ID in his pocket to claim he was ISIS," Kirkuki said.
"This happened despite the fact that, right from the start, we contacted every security branch, from the Operations Command down to the lowest post, asking if they were holding him. They all denied having him in custody, and now they tell the family to come collect his body because he was a terrorist."
Hassan Majid, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party faction in the Kirkuk provincial council, confirmed the meeting took place but declined to endorse the ICTS's explanation.
"We have requested the formation of an investigative committee as well as an emergency meeting of the provincial council to discuss the issue," Majid told Rudaw English. "We have also notified the Iraqi Prime Minister's office to intervene."
In another statement to Rudaw, Kirkuk’s deputy governor stressed that counterterrorism operations must be held to higher legal and operational standards.
"Anti-terrorism work isn't just about opening fire; those who carried out this operation should have taken into account that civilians were present," Taha said.
"We commend them for eliminating actual terrorists, but when two civilian youths are killed, a high-level committee from Baghdad must be formed to conduct a formal legal investigation."
