Slayings Spur Exodus of Kurds From Iraqi Town

Hundreds of Kurdish families are fleeing a town in northern Iraq for the nearby city of Kirkuk after the slayings of several Kurds fueled fears of “ethnic cleansing,” local officials said Monday.

Seven Kurds have been gunned down in the mainly Arab town of Hawija in 10 days, most of them on crowded streets in broad daylight in what Kurds say is a campaign to force them out.

Local Arab political figures and the chiefs of Arab tribes have condemned the slayings, however.

Rezkar Ali, a Kirkuk City Council member from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said 543 Kurdish families, perhaps about 3,000 people, had arrived in recent days in the city.

Kirkuk and its surrounding area sits on about 40% of Iraq’s oil reserves. The city is coveted by Kurds, Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen.

Kak Salar Sabah, a Kurdish resident of Hawija, said he came to Kirkuk with his family of seven and was staying with a cousin at a small house in one of the poorest neighborhoods.

“We have been living in Hawija for over 60 years in peace, and those who were killed had also been living there for decades but fell victim to political dealings,” Sabah said.

Tensions in the area are particularly high as the Jan. 30 national election approaches, and politicians have called for the vote there to be postponed because of fears of violence.

Kurdish leaders and parties have blamed the attacks on the U.S.-trained Iraqi police and national guard, as well as Hawija council members, who the Kurds say support the perpetrators.

They have called on the Iraqi interim government and U.S. forces to intervene to prevent an escalation into all-out ethnic conflict.